Can't Help Myself
by CherishMimi
Summary: I don't want to be with her, but I just can't stand to see her with anyone else. Troyella.
1. Delayed Devotion

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: So this is really a stupid act since I'm in the process of developing a sequel to one of my stories and I've got three stories and a oneshot series going on, but I really can't get this idea out of my head. **

**Well, anyway I'm new to writing in this fandom, but I've been reading Troyella fan fiction for years, it was one of the things that got me hooked on fan fiction in the first place.**

**But, I had this idea and for some reason these two popped inside of my head for it, now I could have used many different pairings that I ship, but I chose these two because I really like to see Troy get a little rough with Gabi, and I think it's a good idea, lol.**

**BTW: This idea came from an R & B song by an artist that I have yet to learn the name of, but is really cool, it's called Baby Mama Love…**

**I know, lol. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Troy Bolton sat in the comfortable plush chair that sat in the middle of the living room, seemingly made for watching the front door.

Which was exactly what he was doing.

Of course with the exception of his daughter quite snugly asleep in his strong arms, head nuzzled firmly on his shoulder, tiny hands fisting his shirt, and her breathing as even as it possibly could have been.

He took pride in his little girl, deep blue eyes, the exact stormy shade as her fathers, long black curls with that shade of brown hinted, already trailing down her back even at four.

She was beautiful, many would agree, holding the inevitable gorgeous genes of both mother and father, the couple that was too beautiful for even their own good. The couple that seemed to be on top of the world at one point, particularly in high school, through college, until little-one, as her uncle Chad called her, issued.

It was supposed to be expected happiness.

The thing that their friends knew were coming, a dazzling elaborate, situation that was sure to bring the two lovebirds closer and hopefully result in marriage.

It was supposed to be the most happy experience, it really was.

But it wasn't.

At this moment, a frightened Troy Bolton went into panic mode, simply stating his love for his girlfriend for a little over two years, but also stating that this was not what he was hoping would happen.

They both knew he loved the thought of Gabriella swollen in pregnancy with his child, but she obviously didn't see the scared tone behind the panicking one.

She ran, from him, slamming the door, and exclaiming that she didn't need, him.

And she didn't.

And Troy didn't need her.

But that didn't fault the undeniable attraction that was consistent, and intended on staying between the two no matter how they liked it, assuring them mentally that they would never be able to stay away from each other.

And, Gabriella went into labor.

And Troy was there.

Behind her holding her hand even as she called him an assortment of names, murdering his hands as she screamed in pain.

And, they, together had brought their child into the world.

And they would raise that child.

But not together.

Gabriella had a wounded heart. It was cold, and she didn't want anything to do with Troy, even as he proclaimed his love for her, and their daughter. And even as she believed every word he said, she told him, it was over.

And the only thing that would keep them even speaking was their daughter.

And Troy invested in getting over the love of his life.

Which he seemingly…did.

A car pulled up in front of the house and Troy craned his neck, ever so slightly to see the red mustang coming to a halt and the man clad in the black suit walking discreetly over to the passenger side to open the door.

And out of that door stepped a womanly figure clad in a tight fitted black dress, curls pinned up slightly by a diamond studded clip, black pumps clicking on the pavement, loud enough to make a statement that even he could hear through the door.

She was back from a date, oh how interesting.

Troy smiled at the fake smile she donned as the man's hand reached down to help her as she stepped out of the sports car.

He saw her hug the man, sidestepping a kiss, just barely and Troy had to whistle at the action.

"Ouch." He said quietly.

She said something and the man nods toward the house where, she nods back and pulls his hand to walk him to the front door.

She was inviting him in, oh how wonderful.

Troy stood and walked into his daughters room to lay her down. "Time to play with mommy." He whispered placing a kiss on her forehead. He took off his shirt, tossing it to the hamper, and he ruffled his already mess of hair. Pulling his jeans down just a little to show off the waistline of his boxers, he slipped off his shoes.

The door opened, and he could already hear the mother of his daughter's frown as she discovered how the door was unlocked, unlike she left it with the babysitter.

And in that instant, she knew.

"Motherfucker," she whispered not so quietly and he grinned to himself. The mystery date, asked, like a proper robot gentleman, if everything was alright, and she told him everything was fine, stepping through her house, and flipping on a light switch.

"So, this is my humble abode, welcome." She said sarcastically her voice laced with dry humor, and she stepped around in a circle, silently wondering where the father of her child was hiding.

"It's very, small." The man replied to her statement, and she smiled at him, setting her purse down.

"You don't need anything big when it's only you and your daughter, right?" She said as an answer to his question.

The guy nodded, and opened his mouth to reply, but found himself unable to comment as Troy stepped out of the room, a smile on his face.

"And your husband right?" He said and Gabriella closed her eyes, willing her patience.

Jackass.

"Husband?" The guy asked, and Gabriella sighed.

"He's not my husband, why can't you just stay at your own god damned house?" She questioned turning her body to Troy as he placed a hand causally on the couch in such an amused stance.

"Babe, this is my house, and how come you didn't tell me we were having an open marriage?" He questioned biting his lip, at the way the dress highlighted every curve that adorned her body.

"I thought you said you guys weren't married?" The guy inquired again, and Gabriella rolled her eyes, but not without a glare to Troy, before turning to face her date. "We aren't," She sighed, "Richard, meet the father of my daughter, Troy." She stated simply motioning to Troy, who bowed his head in response to the tight knitted suit man.

"Nice to meet, you." Richard, said holding out his hand to Troy who merely glanced at the gesture.

Gabriella was practically fuming. "Richard," She said steadily, "I'll call you tomorrow, I've got to send Troy here on his merry way, okay?"

The guy nodded, and kissed her cheek before leaving a chuckling Troy and a pissed off Gabriella in the same room.

Bad idea.

"You son of a bitch!" Gabriella started.

"Well, he won't last long." He said before settling on the couch and flipping the television on with a casual shrug. She snatched the remote out his hand, clicked the T.V. off and threw it down on the coffee table.

"Why can't you just leave me alone, let me live my life, huh?" She said going into her rant now, pacing back in forth in front of him, very much like teacher giving him a punishment.

Troy stands, wanting the full affect.

"I was on a date Troy!" She yells, stopping to face him.

"Obviously." He stated, placing his hands in his jean pocket. She crossed her arms over chest, tapping her foot, in a an angry impatience that only makes Troy want to push her even further.

"I'm trying to move on with my life Troy!" She said, her vane appearing just slightly in the crease of her neck, intriguing Troy to an extent.

"So, do it."

And he pushed.

And she was on the edge.

"I can't with you sitting in my fucking house every time I get back from a date!" She screams, and he rolls his eyes, in mock annoyance, quite pleased that she was so riled up over nothing.

"I wanted to spend some time with my daughter, and I figured I'd take some weight of that poor fourteen year old."

Gabriella gave up, but didn't back down. "Shouldn't you be out prowling for your new whore?" He knew what she was doing. "Don't give me that bullshit, Gabs, I'm not the one out with Richard the stuck up stud."

"Jealous Bolton?"

"Fuck you, why would I be jealous?" He said defending himself, from something that he was not in the mood to address at the moment.

She raised an eyebrow. "Open marriage? What were you trying to do?"

"I was just playing with his head, besides he's a flake anyway, I didn't like him." He stated.

She scoffed, disbelievingly.

"It doesn't matter, I like him! You do not give me consent to date anyone!" She yells, quite offended by the fact that he thought he owned her.

"I'll be damned if my daughter is around some rich-boy that doesn't treat her mother right!" He said quite pissed himself, that she was not seeing his worried concept. "I've only been out with him once Troy, and you only saw him for a minute, he was a perfect gentleman to me."

"He wanted a good fuck, that's all." He said as if it cleared everything up, and Gabriella stands with her mouth agape.

"But I don't really care what he wanted, if I catch him here again, we are going to have a problem, Gabriella." He stated stepping to her.

Gabriella knew that the cobalt eyes, weren't lying to her.

She knew that no matter how mad she was, no matter how independent she thought she could be, if Troy disapproved, they weren't allowed back. She was forced to his gaze, still furious at the way he acted.

"You are not my fucking guardian, Troy-boy." She said quietly to his face, but with a force, that made the brown in her eyes, turn a shade of deep auburn.

And Troy watched her struggle with him, her chest heaving in a movement of angst, and he licked his lips, her cleavage providing a weakness to his strong stance.

But he held his ground.

"He's not to be here again." He said, and the firmness in his voice, told her he was final about his decision.

He always was.

And it made her yearn for him, a sudden ache coming between her legs.

"It's not your business who I date." She finished, telling him she was still firm on her stance as well, challenging him, at his game that he liked to spin.

And he took it.

"It's not any of my business who you spread your legs to?" He said, and he saw the fire flash through her eyes, before she pushed him, with all the force she had, and he stumbled ever so slightly.

"Get the fuck out of my house!"

And Gabriella made to push his shoulders again, but before she could even grip them Troy had caught her arms, roughly yanking her to him. His lips were on hers before she could even say anything, feeling, bruising them, and she whimpered, fighting as he held her wrists against his chest.

She was struggling, as the anger coursed through Troy's blood, and he probed his tongue into her mouth, making her taste everything.

And she accepted.

And she knew she wasn't getting out of it.

His hands let go of her and harshly scanned over her body, roughly feeling her hips and legs, brushing under the silk fabric of the dress, and rubbing hard against the lacy thong that was under it.

She grabbed his face and issued her own amount of force, still dedicated to stating her own case, even if they weren't talking. He was breathing rugged as he disconnected his mouth from hers, and trailed open mouthed kisses down the side of neck, biting hard enough to make her cry out.

Because she was gonna take it, all of it.

His hand cupped her butt, slapping, squeezing and lifting her body up, legs spread wide setting her on the shelf.

"It's none of your business who I fuck," she moaned as he had snatched the fabric of her dress down her chest, and gratefully took a breast inside of his mouth. He detached himself and roughly slammed her against the wall raising her arms, as he crushed her lips under his again.

"Your business, is my business." He didn't have to tell her, she knew.

And he let go of her arms, reaching to grab the flimsy underwear and rip them away casually sliding his jeans down his legs, boxers attached. Then he held her legs as he thrust into her with no warning.

She moaned out, thrashing her arms and knocking something off the shelf, a distant breaking sound being heard, but not considered.

And he pounded, solely into her heat, hard and wet, holding her legs outstretched, Carlos Santana stilettos still on her feet.

"Who do you fuck?" He groaned out, bucking his hips hard, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She whimpered, and he rolled his hips skillfully, knowing what it did to the mother of his daughter.

"Oh, fuck!" She cried, as he sped up his ministrations, the angle and force of his thrusts causing her to become frantic. The dress was helplessly bunched around her hips as she tried not to wake her daughter, but Troy sliding in an out of her in such an erotic manner, making her test her limits.

"Excuse me?" He asked slamming his pelvis rather hard against hers, causing her to tilt her head back to the wall.

And it felt so good.

"I-I, Oh god, Troy!" She breathed, unable to form the words as he gripped her legs, and spread them wider at his penetration.

"You tell me who you fuck, Gabriella!" He growled, and she couldn't help but be so turned on by the voice tone. It didn't add help to her predicament, causing her to moan, and forget the answer she had been in the mist of saying.

But She raised her head back to his and leaned in his ear, licking before whispereing.

"No one."

And as if a trigger was pulled, Troy turned from wild to animalistic, driving into her in such a hard forcible way that she was screaming so loud she was sure the neighbors would call the cops.

"You are damn, right! Nobody fucks you!" He groaned out, biting at her neck as she tightened her grip around his neck as he added another notch of speed to his pounding, making the weak shelf shake with every deafening thrust.

"Shit, Troy!" She cried out, as he continued his claim over her, hitting her spot, every time he would swiftly bury himself inside of her.

"No one touches, this body, do you understand me?" He was talking to her as if she was a child, as if he was punishing her, chastising her.

"Yes!" She screamed, the erotic feeling of him becoming too much.

"You're mine, this body is mine!" He cried and she was exposed to a blinding white light as she hit ecstasy on the highest level, making her scream his name so loud that it almost broke his ears.

He himself spilling into her body, his own orgasm as hardcore as it could have possibly been. He finally slowed his thrusts to a stop, not wanting to remove himself from being buried inside of her,and he didn't.

He stayed, reveling in the feeling.

* * *

Dressed, Gabriella stood holding her door, as her ex-boyfriend, the father of her child stood in the door frame.

He softly ran his fingers over her lips.

Savoring the moment that was occasionally there.

"Gabriella…" He said.

"He won't back," She stated.

And he pressed his lips softly to hers, before walking off to his car, and pulling off into the nighttime.

And she closed the door, knowing that even though Troy wasn't her boyfriend anymore,

And even though they didn't live together,

Richard wouldn't be back.

**A/N: So, that's just some random idea that's been stuck, I'm wondering if I should carry it on, or just leave it there, cause I kind of want to carry it out, but I don't want to carry out something that nobody, likes, lol. **

**Read and Review!**

**-Mimi**


	2. Stepping Stone

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: First of all, I just saw High School Musical 3, and I don't think I have ever cried as hard as I did when the ending came for it. It was all so good, all the songs, all the cute Troyella moments, for a moment I kept forgetting they were just in a g-rated movie, but it was really good, and I suggest you all get up and go see it if you haven't already!**

**Second, I just want to thank every reviewer for the reviews you guys took the time out to give. I know there are a hundred stories out there that you could have clicked on but you clicked on mine, so yay! **

**So obviously since I'm posting this, you all now know I am carrying this out, which is technically suicide and is sure to kill me, but I'm going to do it cause I want to please you. **

**Now, there was a very pressing matter from one reviewer about the child's age that I took into mind, so if I don't cover it in this chapter then, it'll be brought up.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

"_Happy Birthday to Juliana, happy birthday to you!" _

_Gabriella Montez steadied the birthday cake in her hands as she walked over to the picnic table amidst all the noise. _

_Applause and yells of excitement were voiced of the little girl's turning of two. But those blue eyes were the loudest of them all. __Standing proud beside his daughter, her almost black, brown curls falling around her face as she tried to decide whether to blow out the candles or stick her hand in the cake._

_Going with the ladder, she blew, a toothy grin coming in afterwards as pictures were snapped. _

_Then as if seeing it fit for the moment stuck her fist in the cake as planned, bringing the chocolate to her mouth, and then smashing it into her father's mouth. __Laughing and teasing came now, and Gabriella watched her daughter clap and yell excitedly as Troy pushed the cake from the side of his mouth in, and then kissed his baby girl._

_Gabriella stood, observing as only a mother could. _

_Nowadays she wasn't sure whether to feel animosity or joy at the sight. She was aware of the tight bond her daughter held with her father, t__hough attached to her mother. _

_It was just Gabriella and Juliana, the golden girls, as auntie Sharpay deemed the two. __And Gabriella was confused about her feelings of that matter. She had tried, and tried to find new people, as a matter of fact, vowing to try and make a relationship work._

_But, Troy Bolton was hard to shake._

_Of course she was over the whole situation, finding peace by herself, feeling no guilt or regret in the decisions she had made, at first._

_But now, now things were starting to change._

_She had her dose of dating, and she was very well aware that Troy knew that but she could not help but feel him watching her, checking up on her. When dropping Juliana off, or picking her up, and Gabriella would be with a man, he would linger, a little longer than normal._

_And she knew, a man's intuition was to make sure all was protected, especially the mother of his kids, but there was more, and though she didn't have to elaborate, and didn't intend on doing so, she knew it._

"_Gabriella?" She snapped from her trance to face the cobalt eyes, and he was bearing a handful of trash._

"_In the kitchen, Troy." She said and watched as he passed by making sure to drop the trash in the can, while Gabriella leaned in the doorway from the backyard._

_He went to the sink, washing his hands, and there was silence._

_Raw, complete silence. _

"_It's been a long two years." He said, looking at her while turning off the water slowly. She nodded watching his eyes study the dishrag, as if it was telling him what to say._

"_It has been." She spoke softly, as he placed his hand on the sink counter, almost trying to steady himself it seemed._

"_Gabi, the other day, that guy-?" _

"_Harry?" Gabriella offered, halfway annoyed, halfway, anxious._

"_Yeah, um, I noticed you two were on your way out when I came to get Julie, and, well…I guess-"_

_Gabriella walked to Troy and smiled. "Troy I am dating Harry, but I don't think it's that serious." _

_She almost saw relief flash through his eyes._

"_Oh, okay, good."_

"_Good?" _

_Troy shrugged, and Gabriella tilted her head to the side, her hand settling on the hip of her sundress._

"_I didn't feel like he was good for you." He said, turning to look at her, and she saw the look of dislike on his face, most likely caused by image._

"_And, why not?" Not that she cared why._

"_He looked too…controlling," He said, and Gabriella scoffed. _

"_Troy, how in the world does controlling look?" She asked, a hint of laughter in her voice, but also a small trace of annoyance and Troy smirked, the mood changing in the room rapidly. And he tried her, daring to piss her off._

"_I'm just looking out for you", his reply came, and if Gabriella hadn't been as defensive with the guy, she would actually take his answer as genuine, but the frustration, at the father of her kids made her think differently._

"_Yeah, sure your always true opinion of the men I date, is so comforting to my safety." She said wittingly, placing her hands on her hips, maintaining her stance._

"_I don't always supply you with my spot on opinion, I trust you to be smart enough to figure out they're all dooshbags on your own." He said, the sarcasm lacing his voice causing Gabriella's eyebrows to curve in anger._

_Troy knew when to stop, he really did, but he just couldn't and when he couldn't things started to get chaotic, for instance the little quarrel, that was taking place between the two dispatched lovers, was turning into a full fledged smack down a little too quickly._

"_Because you were a god, and no other man can possibly compare to you?" She spat, raising her venom-filled voice tone._

_Troy cowered back, just a little, surprised at her blunt referral to the ending of their joined unity._

"_I don't know do they?" He said lowly, fully aware of the fact he was treading on dangerous grounds._

_She tried to hide the fear in her eyes. __Her eyes shot downward momentarily, the blatant fact that she had indeed compared every man to the blue eyed individual appearing in her face. __And she was hoping, trying to get the eyes to not lock with their soul mates, those same cobalt pupils, the simple thing being he would know._

_But like gravity she was pulled, and her body was being questioned, with those piercing orbs, the things tearing her to shreds, as he licked his lips._

_The simple fact was, no, they didn't compare._

_No one compared to him, because no one ever would compare to the love of her life, but seemingly that didn't matter._

"_I've never tried, to compare them." She spoke quietly, lying and he knew. _

_Smirking he raised his brows, affectionately, and she sighed. He facial features softened, and he studied her tired self. __She was trying to restrain from arguing, from letting it get too far. Feelings had been addressed, it had been settled, they didn't need to elaborate, further._

_But he was on the borderline, he was struggling, he had always been struggling, and this time was no different. __His hands reached out for her, softly bracing on her waist. She breathed inward, shocked by the action, avidly ignoring the protesting voices in her brain._

_Her body was inched to his in a matter of seconds, hands falling awkwardly at his sides, dangling._

_And he stared._

_Trying to find some sort of truth, hoping that she'd finally see the light in what happened years ago, and the words that escaped her mouth were enough assure him for a lifetime._

"_They would never compare."_

_-- _

Gabriella stared at the canvas intently.

She was wearing an oversized blue jean dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to her elbows, white Capri's stained with paint, as well as her face. She was in 'Picasso land' as Chad had claimed many times.

She painted, and she painted all day, because it was her nine to five.

She was one of the most well known artists of her time, selling paintings all over the world, as well as owning her own galleries here and there, she was a profiting business woman. Gabriella turned out different from the freaky math wiz that she was sure destined to be.

She walked different, talked different, and she was different, but she still remained the same, in so many aspects.

Not so much quiet, but still shy.

She was her own person, and she tried to be the best she could be, for her daughter.

She dabbed a certain color on the canvas, letting it join the sea that already covered the papering.

Of course as it always happened her phone, rang, and she answered as if she was at her office.

"Gabriella Montez?"

"I'm picking up Julie." She rolled her eyes.

"Nice of you to call and ask today, or were you just telling me you were going to do it, without asking for my permission?" She voiced dabbing some more paint on the canvas, trying to take her mind off of the blue eyed man over her telephone.

"I'm her father, I don't have to ask for permission." He stated cockily.

Same old Troy.

"Besides I want her to meet someone so I was just letting you know." He stated and she hears clicks of cameras in the background, letting her know he was outside. "New whore for her to evaluate?" Gabriella questioned with a smirk, that he probably can hear over the phone.

"Ha, that's funny, to bad I'm laughing on the inside." She sat down the paintbrush and walked over to her window, glancing out at the sun.

"Whatever, are you going to get her after school?" She questions, though already knowing the answer.

"Yes, because I think Eliza stops shooting around that time."

Gabriella raised her eyebrows, her speculation confirmed, and the jealousy running through her veins undeniable.

"Ah, so it is a new whore, let me guess, she's an actress?" She inquires, practically seeing his rolling of the eyes, and him mentally cursing himself for letting it slip.

"Model."

Gabriella laughed.

"Even better," She said turning her body back to the canvas studying the thing as if it was a test.

"Don't mock someone you've never met Gabriella." He spoke, and she scoffed.

"Take your own advice Troy."

He chuckled, pondering on her words.

"I don't date inconsiderate, jerks Brie." The nickname caused a certain feeling to pulsate through her body but she shook it off.

"Jerks, whores, same difference right?" She said, reaching with her finger to smudge the substance on the canvas.

"Whatever, I'll have her back before dinnertime," He spoke and with those final words hung the phone up, leaving her with no one to reply to, and she pressed the button, adding to the silence in the house.

That was until Sharpay Evans slammed the door stating her presence with a loud phone conversation.

"I don't care Zeke, I'm in L.A., stop calling me with this bullshit!" And the phone was slammed shut, while Gabriella shook her head, smiling with her arms folded. "Is there a reason you're not in New York arguing with your fiancé in person?" She questioned to the blonde, who smiled back at her.

"Visiting you bitch," She said hugging her best friend, but scrunching he nose when she realized said friend was covered in paint.

Sharpay Evans hadn't changed a bit since the flashy pink sequenced diva in high school.

She was still a diva, still sequenced and still pink, just a little less flashy.

Juilliard made Sharpay realize her full potential, but also brought her down to earth, making her realize what was real and unreal in life, like Zeke.

And they had committed taking Gabriella and Troy's place, being a real couple and sticking together through some of the toughest battles the had ever faced.

Starting with the divorce of Sharpay's parents, and her fathers refusal to give her mother anything reasonable, to Zeke's sister dying from cancer in the early years of college to the always complicated separation, of different schools.

"And, it's Broadway season in L.A., duh." She stated as though it was obvious and her fuchsia dress swished as she made her way to a chair by the wall.

Gabriella stopped her actions to raise her eyebrows. "Looking for potential new roles then? She said, as the blonde pulled the chair over next to the painter, crossing her legs in the process.

"Eh, I have put my acting and singing on the backburner to focus a little bit more on directing and producing, you know behind the scenes stuff." She said nonchalantly, though the excitement was evident even in her unmoving tone of voice.

Gabriella stared at the actress for a moment, just observing, something she did best, and grinned.

"You're really going to step away from the spotlight?"

Ding.

"Please, the director owns the spotlight, I have the ultimate power, and you know I have always been one to be a little controlling."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, her attention returning to the painting once more. "A little?"

Sharpay poked her tongue out, earning a giggle from her friend.

"Okay, so a lot, but still all the Broadway hits premiere in L.A . first, Legally Blonde, Wicked, Chicago, they all got recognized here, so I figure why not just scope out a potential hit, and visit my lovely best friend and goddaughter while I'm at it?"

She said a charming smile flashing in her eyes, making Gabriella flash the same sarcastic grin.

"Plus," She started.

"Oh god."

"Plus, I heard the distressed voicemail you left on my phone." She said raising an eyebrow inquiringly.

Gabriella didn't speak.

Her hands stayed attached to the paintbrush and she still continued her rhythmic stroke on the paper, silence filling the room, making her slightly worried of breaking the storng occurrence, but that suggestion was far off, considering she didn't plan on breaking said silence.

And neither did Sharpay.

Normally she would have pressed for certain matters, but an inevitable silence from her friend confirmed that it wasn't what happened on the date but what happened when the date was over.

Troy had been there.

Fucking with Gabriella as usual, pissing her off causing a unnecessary argument to take place, and most likely falling into intimacy or violence.

It had happened before.

Not many times but, enough for Sharpay to be able to channel her best friends damaged feelings on the matter. The girl was tired of the sick little game she had partaken in, and Sharpay knew that it was getting worse, but she remained silent.

She always just remained silent.

In fear of what her straightforward words might do the already bruised Gabriella. She kept all opinions to herself, but she couldn't help but wonder what the hell her best friend's ex was playing at.

He loved her, she loved him, but they couldn't go back.

It was hard, but they couldn't and though they tried, it wasn't going to happen, but he still decided that she was his regardless.

Like, he had moved out, but was still paying the rent on her.

As if she was an object.

But, Sharpay knew her friend, would rather be an object than nothing at all to him, coming up with the theory that it was best for the relationship to just try and make it work as friends. But, every time she moved on, he wouldn't let her.

And so that's what brought her here.

Painting miserably as the hurt settled in her chest yet another time, and another said portrait was created.

It was Sharpay's call of duty to change the subject.

"So, do you need me to run and pick up Julie, while you take those to the studio to dry?" She questioned, softly breaking the stare the brunette had on the canvas.

Gabriella shook her head. "Troy's going to get her, said he's got someone for her to meet."

"A female someone, of course." Sharpay said, absentmindedly pulling a nail file out to start to file her already perfected nails.

"Eliza…" She said trialing off, smirking.

"Sounds fancy, aspiring actress or singer?" Sharpay inquired in a bored tone, and Gabriella turned to meet the blue eyes of her friend.

"Model."

Sharpay raised her eyes to her forehead, appearing in deep thought. "Eliza Whitfield." Gabriella turned to her friend. "From high school?" She said and the blonde laughed, before looking over to her.

"Oh, wow."

Gabriella, bit her lip the jealousy unmoving from her features.

"The cheerleader?" She said, feeling quite small.

Sharpay flipped, her locks, highly amused at the situation. "I guess, the model now, man I would have never guessed,…" She trailed.

Gabriella was feeling quite matched. It would be the gorgeous model, slash ex girlfriend, that he would turn to. She was used to the regular bound of whorish things he'd have but this was definitely different.

She sat down the paintbrush and dialed the familiar number.

When the husky voice appeared, she took a breath. "So, were you gonna tell me you were dating her?"

"I did tell you."

"You know what I mean, smartass." She said, rolling her eyes, at his evident sarcasm.

"I didn't think it mattered, plus I'd figured you'd be smart enough to put two and two together, and I'm pleased to know I was right."

She felt the frustration bubble up once more.

"Don't get too, pleased."

"Holding a grudge, Gabs?" He said, taunting her with his smooth voice, a little too relaxed for her liking.

"Me? Holding a grudge to the girl that made my life a living hell in high school? Never!"

He couldn't help but chuckle at her antics. "Very mature."

Gabriella sighed, and Troy could see her troubled, mentally trying to decide what she wanted to do to him.

"Gabriella, she's changed." He said, calmly.

"Sure."

"I'm telling the truth, I wouldn't be with her if she hadn't."

She bit her lip, thinking over his words. "Why not? Sluts are your thing."

"Gabriella, I just want Julie to meet her, okay, remember, we said we would never hide anything from her?

"Since when do you try and hide anything?" She spoke without really realizing her words.

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" He spoke, frustration running through his veins at her stubborn attitude.

"Funny, that once upon a time a I asked you a similar question."

"That was different." He said seeming to get quiet himself, with their serious conversation. It was touching heated topics now, as a conversations between the two usually did. And the growing jealousy on both parts didn't do too much good for the two either.

She scoffed, amusement, being the venom in her voice tone.

"How so?" She challenged, noticing Sharpay's inquiring looks from beside her, but ignoring the blonde, too absorbed into making her case with him to really provide any details for the girl.

"I didn't want him around you, or my child." He said, and the sincerity was evident in the words.

She leaned up against the wall.

"Same feelings here." She tried, hoping the affect of her would do to him as it had him to herself, but figuring her failure miserably.

"I love her." He said.

"Do you?"

The lines were hung in thin air, up for evaluation and discussion, the two trying desperately to mask the feelings that were pained to elaborate on. Instead the silence was the answer, as usual and Gabriella found herself sighing impatiently, for an answer, or for change, she did not know.

"She'll be back before dinner." He stated, and Gabriella nodded though he could not see.

"Whatever."

* * *

Gabriella was never a person to get bored.

But when her daughter was gone, and her best friend was off doing whatever it was that she did best, Gabriella was left at her house doing…nothing. Painting was finished, so she was technically bored out of her mind, and she found herself doing things she wouldn't normally do.

Like gardening.

And that's exactly what she found herself doing. Outside, sleeves rolled up to her elbows and her fingers deep in the soil of her front lawn.

Mind wandering to unknown places, places, that made her squirm with discomfort, squirm with angst. It was the fact that her daughter was spending time with her father, in the presence of yet another woman that Gabriella didn't feel too well about.

She didn't hate Eliza.

Well, okay so maybe she did, but she had a perfectly good reason to hate her.

Stealing someone's boyfriend and proceeding to make their life a living hell afterward was a good reason, right? Anyhow, after all those years, she wasn't on any type of good terms with the girl that had spent so much time ruining her years at East High.

Over that blue-eyed boy.

But in the end, Gabriella had the prize.

She had the offspring, the heart of the Basketball wonder, and though he didn't quite show it, he was committed to her.

The contract to that commitment?

Well, she was running towards Gabriella, long hair swishing behind her as she launched herself into her mothers arms.

"Mommy!" Juliana squealed, as Gabriella laughed, before lifting them both up from the ground and twirling the two.

A car door was shut, and Gabriella felt the cerulean eyes digging into her.

"Did, you have fun, at Daddy's?" She asked, and watched in wonderment, as the four year old tried to explain all the cool things they did.

"How, do you like Ms. Eliza?" Gabriella questioned, bravely wanting to hear what her daughter had to say. The little raven haired girl stopped her rambling, and looked at her mother, with her dark blue eyes.

"Well…" She trailed, as Gabriella looked at her.

"Just tell me what you think, Julie," Gabriella questioned, curious as to why her daughter had sudden hesitation.

"Her lips must be really sore." She said, quietly, but seriously, and Gabriella couldn't help the giggle that left her mouth at the little girl's words.

"What do you mean?" she said, taking a glance to the man staring at them from his car.

"Maybe she hurt her lips 'cause daddy, kept kissing them to make them better."

She said, explaining, and Gabriella nodded at her daughter in understanding.

"Oh, I see, well, Julie why don't you go and put your backpack away, and let mommy talk to daddy for a minute, okay?" Gabriella said giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek and sending her off, with a slight push.

She stood to her full height and approached Troy with crossed arms, and a smirk littering her face.

"Very affectionate with your partner, I hear." She stated, and Troy hinted the faintest blush on his cheeks.

"We didn't know Julie was paying attention." He said scratching his neck, nervously. Gabriella, nodded, the same understanding way she had to her daughter. She looked around him to his car, where a blonde sat comfortably in the front seat, not making any movements to move from the position anytime soon.

"High school never ends, huh?" She said staring at the girl who flipped open a mirror affectionately and checked her face, for whatever reason.

"Stop it, she told me that she felt like she was intruding and so she wasn't going to get out, and to tell you hello." He stated confidently though a nervous glance was cast back to the car.

Gabriella raised her eyebrows.

"Surprising, because that's never stopped her before." She muttered under her breath, catching the girls eye and waving, with a smile, and she smiled back, opening the door.

"Oh, look, she's coming over to say hi." Gabriella said with a look at Troy, who looked as if he would rather have been anywhere than in his spot at that very moment.

"Play nice, please."

"Eliza." Gabriella said as the girl reached the front face of her worst enemy, and she wrapped her arm around Troy's waist.

"Gabriella, Montez, wow it's been a long time." Eliza said, looking the girl up and down taunting her appearance and judging her with her eyes, as they spoke. "It seems, time has done us both some good." Gabriella spoke silently, putting on an equally fake look of attention on the woman in front of her.

"Eliza, Gabriella's an artist.." Troy said desperately trying to rid the tension.

"Oh, how cute." Eliza said with an amused glance, and Gabriella bit her lip, fighting the urge to voice some of the very rude opinions forming in her brain.

"Troy tells me you're a model?" Gabriella questioned, figuring, changing the subject would take her mind off of insulting the foolish woman.

"Obviously," She said, her face turning to one of pride and arrogance, for a moment reminding her of her particularly proud best friend, but knowing she would be dead if the blonde ever knew of the comparison.

"Um, she's an Elite, which means, like the highest type, right babe?" Tory offered for help and Gabriella, nodded falsly impressed.

"It has always been my aspiration, but I assumed science would be yours, Gabriella? What my dear happened?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing, I had a child, and figured out I didn't want to do it for the rest of my life, so I started painting." She said, with a smile.

Eliza bared her whites, at the sentence.

"And what a beautiful child she is, very much like you, in so many ways personality wise as well as physical, but her-"

"Eyes are like her fathers?"

Gabriella had heard the dangerous accusation before, and had confirmed many times that it was perfectly true. The model, locked her jaw the awkward silence, becoming nothing compared to the intense staring contest taking place between the two women.

"Eliza why don't you go wait in the car," Tory finally spoke, and the woman obliged, turning on her heal and stalking back towards the vehicle without a word.

Gabriella laughed. "Some things just never change."

"Why did you have to be like that?" He said frustrated.

"Be like what?"

"Hateful, and sarcastic, you've been hanging around Sharpay for too, damn long!" He said, fuming.

While, she was perfectly calm, despite her heart ripping in two inside of her chest.

"I thought my opinion didn't matter?" She defended, and he scoffed.

"Your opinion doesn't matter…" He grumbled, and Gabriella nodded, smiled and turned to enter her house.

But Troy just couldn't resist.

"Hey Gabs?"

The brunette turned and looked at him.

"What did you think?"

She smirked at him and brown met blue.

"I think…some things never change."

**A/N: Well there you go the second installment of Can't help myself, I hope I kind of sort of cleared the age thing, and there will be more flashbacks throughout the story, so get used to italics!!!**

**Read and Review!**

**-Mimi**


	3. Chasing Pavements

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: I'm ducking, hold on…**

**Okay feel free to throw different inanimate objects at me for keeping away for so long, my friends.**

**So a lot has happened, just now my family and the evil light company having a dispute over our light bill which caused us to be living with our grandmother for over a month, with NO COMPUTER. **

**Yeah, I have been going insane, too. But I am back, and with another installment of Can't Help Myself. This one kind of focuses on Troy a little bit, so, yeah a little different from the last two, also I for got to put a disclaimer in the last two chappies, so yeah, sorry. **

**And I want to wish my favortie female actress, and my idol Vanessa Hudgens a wonderful and happy 20th Birthday, today!!**

**BTW: This chapter is named after Adele's "Chasing Pavements" because it fits this story. **

**Disclaimer: Very funny, and I own Twilight too.**

Chapter 3

Troy Bolton.

The entire female population worshipped and adored him.

The sound of his name made the hearts of women around the country flutter. A simple look at his perfect face and body intrigued their minds, often producing images one would call naughty.

His cerulean eyes were carved as if by the gods, ranging from light and playful, to dark and erotic at times, and could penetrate through you with one look.

His body was known as muscular and hard.

In more places than one.

Those perfect abs, worked and made by the brutal exercise of basketball, along with his back and arms, that when flexed only made you wonder how they would feel rippling across your fingertips, and the quickest way you could get it to happen.

He was "The Golden Boy".

The general population of the male species, watched every game he ever played, wanting and wishing they could be this man, this man whom, could have any woman he wanted with the snap of his fingers.

They heard the life story. They knew of how he came into the world of professional basketball, and instant stardom.

And of the course the story of his daughter.

It was called as a scandal at first.

He was seen around L.A with women ever since he was drafted, and so many people called him irresponsible saying that the child was no doubt a production of a one time type thing.

But Troy, embracing his gold demeanor, made a public statement.

When the birth of his daughter was leaked to the public, Troy Bolton, told the truth.

He told the public exactly what they wanted to know.

He had nothing to hide, and he discussed everything, from the senior year of high school, to their junior year of college when his girlfriend turned up pregnant, and they were no longer together but that he would take care of his little girl.

And he left the name of the mother of his child, unannounced.

The quality of his little rant at his press conference, made the general public more infatuated with him, commenting on how much of a man he was to step up to the plate, and his fan base skyrocketed even higher.

Everyone, knew who Troy Bolton was.

Everyone, loved Troy Bolton.

And even with the love of this public also came ridicule, everything he did was watched and evaluated, questioned, and commented on.

What he ate, what he wore, and most definitely what he said.

And even in knowledge of these essential things about America's most loved man..

They knew nothing about him.

They never would see the overprotecting father side of him, and they most definitely would never, ever know how…unusual he was.

The watching paparazzi would never know that when he brushed his teeth he poured the toothpaste in a squiggly line every morning.

They would never know that when he woke up ever morning, he had a "routine" of getting ready, and during that routine, he played "The Choice is Yours" by Black Sheep.

Every. Single. Day.

And, they would seem to realize that Troy Bolton was unexplainably attached to, obsessed, and in love with Gabriella Montez, the mother of his child.

And he would never address the fact that she was in love with him too.

* * *

_Juliana giggled much like her mother as her father spun her around in the park, outside of the mall, where he might just have spent most of his money on his offspring._

_He grinned at her smiling face, and set the two year old down, so she could grab onto his hand, her bags swinging down at her side, long curls platted into two braids._

"_So, daddy." _

"_So, Julie." _

_She laughed, "You meet mommy?" Troy smiled, quite aware of his daughters half made sentences._

"_I met her in school." _

"_School bus?" She asked excitedly, a mysterious obsession taking place with yellow, the school bus being her favorite thing associated with the color._

"_No, puppy just in school." _

"_Mommy kiss you?" She said, pointing up at Troy, and he grinned, "Yes, mommy used to kiss daddy all the time." _

_His smiled loosened at the far away flashback._

_His reminiscent thoughts were the only thing left from his estranged past with the love of his life, as he had gotten the point and couldn't possibly go back to her._

_Not after the damage he inflicted._

_They trotted through the grass the leaves falling as they loomed upon fall. _

"_Mommy kisses Harry." She said looking at her feet as they walked._

_Troy felt his insides burn with anger. He told her to keep that man away from his daughter, and she continued to see him._

_But then he himself wondered, was it his daughter he wanted the man to stay away from? _

"_Really?" _

"_Yes, mommy hurt a lot too." She said, looking up at her father's face, causing him to stop. _

"_What?" He said, pulling his daughter up on his hip. _

"_What do you mean mommy hurts? Does she fall?" Troy asked frozen, in slight fear of his daughters answer, in fear of what he might be uncovering of his ex girlfriend._

"_Harry yells, and mommy hurts, she say that he's trying to sing but he can't and that it hurts her ears." She giggled, her two year naivety taking place._

_Troy knew that was a lie._

_Gabriella could never lie._

"_Puppy does mommy have scratches?" Troy asked, running his hand through his daughter's hair, protectively._

"_She says sunglasses mark her eyes, she wears sunglasses at home." Troy paled, hugging his daughter close trying as hard as he could not to sprint to his car at his daughter's words. _

_Putting two and two together wasn't that hard._

"How do you like that one Nigel?" Troy stated, holding up a particular shoe to eyelevel.

Another thing that no one could ever suspect about Troy Bolton was that he had an unhealthy fetish.

Something that was a serious matter with him, something he had great knowledge of, something that he considered the greatest creation of man…or woman.

Stilettos.

Yes, Troy Bolton had a thing for stilettos, and he was proud to say it. It was definitely a strange thing for him to be captivated by, but as usual there was a start of everything.

And It started in High School.

He never glanced at the type of heels his mother would wear on occasions. Those being chunky and usually formal, not in the least bit sexy, him as a guy, concluding that they looked uncomfortable and not thinking twice about them ever again.

Until, his senior year of high school.

For the first time in history, Gabriella Montez, his girlfriend, walked into East High with a pair of silver strapped stilettos on and it was all history from there.

The way they looked on women intrigued him beyond measure, and he was so turned on by their various designs, that he started to become used to the shoes.

And they became apart of his requirements for a female, one of the reasons models were his thing.

So, when he first got drafted into the NBA, and endorsements flew in from all over, he made deals with several shoe makers all over the world.

And, every season he had his stylist, Nigel bring him selections of each of said shoe maker and he would pick a pair from each collection.

Weird, right?

And most people, like Chad wondered, what the hell is a man going to do with over ten pairs of expensive designer stiletto heels?

Well, the most logical answer would be to give them to whomever was his new squeeze at the moment.

But, there was a problem with that seemingly easy answer, an exception to his fetish of heels.

He only, bought heels for the feet of Gabriella Montez.

He had accepted his abnormal fascination along with the fact that, he was drawn to the items because of Gabriella.

And, there was just something about that woman and those shoes, that made him excited.

In more ways than one.

Something about those olive toned legs standing tall and sexy in a pair of four inch stilettos was so erotic, that the sight made Troy quiver with arousal.

So, now he was picking up his latest seasoned arrival, and was eyeing a pair of red patent leather Mary Jane Manolo Blahnik's.

"Still alive, Nigel?" Troy questioned, immersed in the shiny shoe, that had price tag of about six thousand dollars.

"They are nice." The blonde haired male spoke, not used to talking to his employer, still after a couple of years.

"Nice? They are perfect, hey do you think they'll match her skin tone okay?" He spoke picking up the shoes and setting them off to the side with the other shoes that he was purchasing.

Nigel pulled out his little calculator, and purposefully started calculating numbers, his eyes widening at the obvious high total.

"What's my total?" Troy asked, with obvious nonchalant, not seeming to notice the same nervous tone of his stylist.

"Um, seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and sixty two." He said quietly and Troy nodded, writing separate checks for each designer as if it was natural for someone to spend that kind of money on things that were not his.

Was it mentioned that he was quite unusual?

"Thanks Nigel, just package the rest back up and send my regards and thanks to everyone, and lock the door on your way out please."

"So, now you want to lock me out, huh?" A voice said and Troy looked up to his bushy haired best friend entering his apartment, a smile on his face, ruffling Nigel's hair on his way.

Chad Danforth, and Troy Bolton were the shake and bake of Basketball.

They were the best friends who made it together, and never once thought they could do it without the other.

Chad got into UCLA as well by scholar and was drafted before Troy onto the Lakers team, before Troy joined him, partners in crime.

Chad was Juliana's godfather, and Troy trusted his life with Chad.

Hard thing to believe but it was the truth.

Though it may have been bruised a few times, the bond between the two idiots were unbreakable.

He was still the same bushy haired jokester from high school all throughout his lifetime, finally realizing what he wanted in life and that Taylor was apart of what he wanted, and they married soon after college.

Taylor heading off to medical school while Chad followed his dreams, and Troy was proud of his best friend.

He was still immature, but Taylor was a wonderful girl and was always there to smack the shit out of him to get him back on track.

And Troy thanked her for that, and prayed that his friend wouldn't lose her.

"What do you want? Danforth?" Troy asked doing their familiar handshake, with his best friend, as he made himself at home, sitting in a chair in front of Troy.

Chad shook his head at the sight of the twelve pairs of shoes sitting in perfect order over in the corner.

"Still doing this shit, huh?" He spoke and Troy bit his lip running his fingers through his hair.

"Chad-"

"You know what I'm going to tell you man, you will never get over her if you keep yourself attached!" He said, leaning upward to face Troy.

"Chad, she's the mother of my child, I'm always going to be attached, regardless of if I buy her shoes or not." Troy spoke, getting up from his spot on the couch to start boxing the shoes he would take to Gabriella.

"Does, bitch from hell know?" Chad spoke, not really caring to disguise his disgust.

"Chad, you don't have to call her that you know." Troy said, in a bored tone, as he turned to face his friend, who rolled his eyes.

"I'm taking that as a 'no'." He said, with a laugh and Troy scoffed.

Chad watched the back of his companion, aware of the desperate battle taking place inside of him.

"Are you aware of the fact that she would flip if she knew?" Chad spoke, and Troy laughed.

"Well, she doesn't and the only thing I think she would be angry about is the fact that these shoes aren't for her."

"Or who the other person your buying them for is." Chad muttered, and Troy, frustrated turned to stare at him.

"She is perfectly fine with Gabriella, Chad, I told you just like I told everyone else, she has changed."

Yeah, he was telling himself that more so than insuring it to everyone else, trying to constantly mask his ache for another person.

"Really?" Chad said, raising an eyebrow at his oblivious friend.

"Yes, they met the other day, when I took Julie home-"

"Holy fuck, wait a minute…they met?" Chad said, obviously not knowing this little confrontation had taken place.

"Yes, Chad." Troy said with a sigh.

"And what did Gabster, say?" Chad said fully up in his seat, an interested expression covering his face, as Troy remembered the words his ex girlfriend had spoken to him days before.

"She said…some things never change." He replied a wistful look appearing on his face.

Chad grinned, internally cheering the mother of his goddaughter on.

"But what does what she think have to do with anything, anyway?" Troy stood, becoming frustrated all over again.

"You are dumb as fuck."

Troy stared at him, disbelievingly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He voiced loudly and Chad shook his head.

"She said some things never change, as saying you will always be the same Troy, chasing after the dumb blondes and that she will always be the thing you don't see, the background chick, the sideling girlfriend that gets the short end of the stick, while being completely stupid to the fact that the same Troy still loves her." Chad spoke nonchalant, but somewhat meaningfully.

Troy gaped at his friend, who must have been having a particularly good day, for calling his sight spot on.

All Troy could do was gape. And bask in the words as they sank into his body.

Gabriella was calling it like she saw it, seeing them both holding on, but letting go at the same time, just as fast.

And she knew what his problem was, she saw that same playboy of a teenager, still poking out through the demeanor of his older self.

He didn't know whether to let go or hold on.

And so,

He was stuck.

**A/N: The shoe thing will make since later on my friends, as well as the flashback, eh, I didn't like this chapter but oh well.**

**REVIEW!!**

**-Mimi**


	4. Anything

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: So, I'm with you, wondering why the hell I am updating so early, but I seriously am in love with the reviews you guys gave to me. ****Some were not so great, and some on the other hand were simply fantastic, and so hilarious, and it was interesting to hear the different opinions and views you all had on it.**

**Well, here is the next installment, I hope you all enjoy it!**

**BTW: This chapter is named after Jojo's song, "Anything", because it's awesome, and I love her!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, do you think that it would be rated g?**

Chapter 4

As the early sun shone in the L.A. sky, Gabriella Montez gracefully strutted down the sidewalk of Sunset Boulevard. Though her attitude didn't feel anything close to graceful at the exact moment in time.

And the six thousand dollar Manolo Blahnik sandals did not make the pulsating anger loosen up.

For the giver of the gift was the one causing that anger to throb consistently inside of her, so early in the morning.

It was a simple fact of frustration, that she couldn't keep order in her life.

But she knew when it came to Troy, her life would always be just be an unexpected event.

There were many reasons, particularly at the moment, that she felt like she could run to his home, and pour the cup of scalding hot coffee on his head. The main reason being the fact that he was the most confusing individual on the planet Earth, and she couldn't find any possible way around that large fact.

He was like a kid at a dinner table, playing with his food. Dangling her like some disgusting vegetable of some sort before dislodging her, cold and uneaten into a container, for later.

Well, she was in that container at the moment.

Not quite understanding, once again why she was there, yet, he seemed to be in and out of the microwave from day to day, most recently heating it up with the someone that Gabriella absolutely detested.

She was irrevocably in love with him, for whatever reason, and she would never be able to forget that fact, even if she tried.

And indeed she tried.

That being one of the other reasons the coffee was looking very attractive on top of his silky strands of hair at the moment.

His relationships, burned a hole through her chest so hard, that she had no choice but to find someone that would make her forget his face, just for the moment, and plunge her deeper into the tempting world of denial.

Denial was her life.

It was her comfort zone. The place she went to avoid the truth. The god honest truth being that she couldn't live without him, and he without her.

But, the forbidden fruit of denunciation was all too juicy and she continued to sell her soul to the devil to hang on that fairy tale world, where there was none of the complicated things she had to go through like during her usual daily life.

Too bad, that she could never actually make it to second base with anyone, for the simplest reasons.

"His face is funny."

"He looks like he could be controlling."

And her personal favorite, "I just don't like him."

Too bad, she actually did what he told her to do, like a good little student despite that she had full knowledge that it would only make her hurt more.

Also add on the fact that he would never change.

The issue of him and her would never lift from it's heavy place in impediment, and she would be stuck in confusion as she usually was, with him right there along with her, only making it worse.

In the fateful words of Katy Perry, he had a case of "love bipolar".

And it was plain to see that, so did she. And maybe she was the one who needed to change, to fix the things that were wrong with her in order to make the relationship better.

Though it wasn't really the fact being that they were bipolar, but more of the fact that both were in love and had made mistakes, but both believed the damage, not able to be repaired.

And, Gabriella was seriously wishing she had gotten a refund.

She opened the door to her gallery, walking straight back towards her office, where she shut the door firmly and sat at her desk, with gentle ease, pulling her sunglasses from her face, and sipping her coffee only to lock eyes with someone that she did not want to see.

The silky black locks trailed over his thick eyebrows, which were curved upward in an amused stance, and added to his amused posture as well.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Gabriella spat, not even trying to cover the venom in her voice.

Harry grinned. "Still feisty."

"Who the hell let you into my office?" She demanded, her immediate thought being to fire whomever was the employee that let him into her space, her personal space.

But he was always, invading her personal space without permission.

"That sweet little secretary out, there, went for the wink, and I kindly asked her to let me in the office so I could wait for you, so just calm down, Gabby."

Gabriella sat her coffee cup down on the table, before standing as if she was ready for a fight.

"Calm down? Don't you tell me to calm the fuck down!" She placed her hands bracingly on the glass platform of the desk, steadying herself, as she seemed to sway with her sudden anger.

As if the day could get any better.

"What do you want Harry?" she spoke, after a moment or two, and he smiled.

"We need, to talk."

She hated those four words. They were always the hallway to her own personal hell, she figured and she desperately wished she could pour acid down the spine of whomever invented the phrase.

He always wanted to talk. That was always what they had to do, talk.

"About what?" She spoke tiredly.

"About us."

She rolled her eyes.

"There is no us." She walked around the desk, to her cabinet, where she reached to grab a file of sales, to observe, after he left, which was hopefully soon, she prayed.

"Gabby-"

She snapped her eyes to him. "Will you shut the fuck up with that shit!" She hated the sound of her nickname on his lips, she always did.

"Gabriella, come on, can't we give it another try, leave the past in the past?" He said, treating the situation with such a calm attitude, that it scared her.

"Not when the past leaves bruises we can't."

Harry, was mentally hurt by that statement, and Gabriella's insides did a dance of joy at the sight of his injured face.

"You know I feel terrible about it," He said taking a step closer to her, and she backed, as a reflex, she had perfected while around him.

"I'm sure you do, but I told you, I didn't want to see you in my life anymore, now I don't hear anything in that sentence saying 'come visit me sometime Harry!'"

He chuckled, his hand reaching out towards her waist, and she visibly flinched.

"Baby, I miss us, I miss you, and your mind, and your body, and I miss, Julie." He said pulling her to him, and she snatched herself from him, the feel from his touch making her cringe with distaste.

But he caught her wrist and yanked her back to him.

"You can't fight me, Gabriella!" The words were a clear déjà vu of the past.

_The car door slammed and the front door soon followed, suddenly Gabriella was quite relieved her little girl was with her father at the moment._

"_Gabriella get your ass out here!" _

_She closed here eyes, vaguely trying to remember how she got this fragile, this weak._

_How, she had let this man change her, snatch her self from her body with ease. She abandoned the dishes turning off the water, slowly reaching for her towel trying to delay her time as easily as she could._

_Sighing, she walked with her head held high out into the living room, meeting his face. _

"_What the fuck did I tell you about Bolton?" _

_She rolled her eyes, cursing herself for the motion. "What Harry?" She spoke tiredly, very tired of the same routine._

"_He was here, wasn't he?" He was into her face now, shards of spit flying off in the process along with the strong scent of vodka._

"_Your drunk." She stated._

"_You've been fucking him haven't you?" He said pacing now, in front of her figure, as she sighed, running her fingers through her hair wondering what Troy was doing with Julie, silently wishing she was there with them, laughing spending time with them._

_Gabriella closed her eyes, aware of the fact that the statement was partially true, but not fully willing to address that fact._

_And then she was pulled to him, her wrists being held tightly by the binds of his hands, as he looked down upon her, fire of a different reason laden in his pupils._

"_Harry…" Gabriella trailed, and that was the answer, it seemed._

_It came crashing down on her like a brick, the weight and force of the swing making her fall to the floor, in pain, tears stinging and the usual outcome following out._

_She looked up at his face, her own burning from the contact._

And she blinked, and it was the present, but the same Harry.

Same tightening hand around her wrist, same menacing look across his features, opposing a threat of an ass whooping.

"Harry, please." she said, pleadingly, just like old times, and just like old times it didn't seem to make a difference.

He didn't budge, but instead cradled her face with his free hand.

Gabriella turned her head quickly at the touch, the feel of his course hands making her shudder.

And she fought against his touch, trying desperately to pull herself from his grip, only to be pulled under him, as his hand raised like a usual reflex.

"Well, just like old times I see." A voice spoke from the doorway and Gabriella closed her eyes in relief of the husky voice, but the liberation was only halfway covering her fury for him.

A smirk let against Harry's lips, and his grip loosened just a bit on her wrists.

"Troy, here to save the day, I see." He spoke, and Troy raised an eyebrow, his brown locks swept back from the small amount of wind that ran outside.

"Is there something to save?" His voice spoke in a contradicting manner.

Harry chuckled slightly, and Gabriella, scanned Troy fully, noticing the anger that was violently in his body.

His face was a shade of Scarlett, vein in his forehead pulsating rapidly, and she followed it until it got weaker in his face, meeting in his arm once more, where his short sleeved shirt showed off his hand in his pocket, where she could outline his fists clenching and unclenching.

Harry, let go of Gabriella fully, and she instantly felt her arms where bruises looked as if to appear.

"Gabriella and I were talking, but it seems I am not welcome by her." He spoke, calmly, straightening his suit jacket.

_Duh. _Gabriella thought, with an eye roll.

"Well, then why are you hesitating to exit her office?" Troy spoke as if Gabriella was his employee and he was her boss.

She really wasn't appreciating the fact that neither of them seemed to really notice her standing in the corner of her office.

"We were having a conversation." Harry spoke, the smile disappearing at Troy's words.

"And that conversation is over now, so I'm going to ask you kindly to get the fuck out of her office."

Harry raised an eyebrow, before turning to Gabriella, and nodding to her, a sign that said we will finish this conversation, and walked silently past Troy out of the door of the office, shutting it behind him.

Troy watched the floor, and Gabriella watched him, the silence echoing throughout the small room.

"You know I could have handled that fine, by myself." Gabriella spoke quietly, the anger from waking up that morning stomping over the relief.

His head snapped up to hers, and the vein was back.

"Yeah, you were handling it real fine, weren't you?" He snapped, and Gabriella knew that all hell was about to break loose.

"Are you stupid?" he growled, pacing in front of her, anger flying out of every single one of his words.

"Do you know what could have happened if I hadn't walked in? He could have and would have hit you, do you know that? Do you know that five seconds ago I wanted to rip him into pieces with my fucking bare hands?" He said, vehemently.

Gabriella couldn't help but fearful of the Troy that was in front of her even tough she had seen this side, this angst side of the man she loved.

"The way he looked as if he wanted to just beat you into a pulp, and you were going to let him!" He said stepping onto her.

"I didn't invite him Troy!" She said, her anger running out of her like fluid. He watched the petite woman in front of him, throw her hands in the air herself, in fury, fury at him for whatever reason.

"I did not ask for him to come, I didn't! He was here, and I told him to leave but he wouldn't, and I can't-" She cut herself off, the angry tears welling up in her pupils, her frustration outing her.

Truth was, she had the internal strength to stand up to Harry, she just couldn't voice said strength.

But then something else entered her mind and the anger returned, once more directed at him.

"And who the fuck do you think you are? Walking in here like you own the place, and speaking on my behalf!" She said, hands on her hips, taking on swift stride in her stilettos.

"So, you want me to let some guy whoop the living shit out of you in your own office? Just like he used to? Just like he used to beat you in your own house, while you hid it from your daughter, and the man that…" He trailed off, forgetting what he was saying.

"The man that what, Troy?" She spoke, solidly. "The man who loves me? The man who treats me right, like a queen? Yeah fucking right, knock on my door when that man comes around."

She held herself and Troy took a stab in the heart.

Didn't she know?

"You don't fucking understand, do you?" She said, quietly, thoughtfully as she took another tentative step towards him.

"The blows I took were nothing compared to the way you hurt me!" She said, and she knew she had hit the red button.

A silence followed, a deafening one that laid on the realization of the severity of her words.

He looked at her for a moment, before he turned and left the room, shutting the door tightly, after him.

Gabriella flinched at the loud crack that echoed of her silent office walls, where she stood.

A firm hand was placed back on top of the desk, a strange feeling of guilt entering her body as her own statement sunk into her body.

It was something she couldn't control…the truth.

Oh, how she was wishing she could crawl into her little world of denial, where she could just lie to herself, and live in a happy world of sin and her feelings could be shaded until further notice.

A sigh escaped her lips, and she tilted her head back, wondering why the hell she felt like this when minutes ago, she was contemplating ways to torture him, because of the actions those words had caused.

She sank her weight onto the surface of the desk, turning herself fully to face her chair, her hands braced on the surface, fingers flexed against the glass.

"Great." She spoke aloud to herself, now needing to find a way to fix what she had destroyed further.

But something changed that short thought and her head snapped up at the sound of a door opening, closing, and locking.

And ta-da, she was face to face with Troy.

Again.

She raised an eyebrow, all thoughts from her previous battle inside of her mind disappearing and she folded her arms across her chest. "What are-"

"Shut up."

He spoke shortly cutting her, off and she stared at him, opening her mouth, before closing it again.

Before opening it.

"Excuse me?" She said, and a flash of bewilderment and confusion, mixed with small resentment, made her speak.

"I said shut up." He spoke, taking a swift step to her, already feeling her breathing become ragged, as he pulled her to him, quickly, and just looked at her.

Just…staring. Studying as if for an important exam.

And she watched him, watch her, the blue eyes appearing to be searching intently for something, but just taking her, in, taking everything in.

His hand rested on her back, fingers moving sensually around the lower parts of it.

She bit her lip, as the other hand snaked it's way between them, starting from her belly button up, leading upwards to her neck, where he tilted her head back, before pressing his lips to her neck.

And he held her, in place, as he worked his lips efficiently on her neck, biting quite more risqué, and darting his tongue out between those open-mouthed kissed to lick at the potential scars he was creating.

Her hands went to his hair where she ran her small fingers through the brown locks, and felt, needing to occupy her hands as Troy continued to work magic on her neck, sounds starting float from her lips as easy as pie, as his kisses became a little more fervent, and heated.

"Troy we can't do this, oh…" She tried to warn, as his hands worked her jacket from her body, sliding it off of her arms, and tossing it to the side in the mist of the room.

"We already are." He stated simply, and he raised from his position on her neck, to place both of his hands in her black locks, before smashing his lips against hers, bruising both sets, and causing a loud throaty moan to be drowned by their intertwining tongues.

She shooed her internal worries away, kissing back, just a needy, just as…hungry as he was.

She ripped herself away to tear his shirt from his body, before joining him once more for a heated kiss, as his hands roamed, quickly squeezing and feeling every piece of flesh he possibly could have.

"W-we, can't though, I don't want you, Troy!" She whimpered in a futile mess, as he ripped her blouse open, and snapped her blue lace bra off of her breasts in one fluid motion.

He dipped, his head down, and caught her left breast in his mouth, and he sucked. She cried, out leaning against the desk, in fear of her knees buckling in the act that he was emitting on her at the moment.

"You don't want me?" He asked, snatching his mouth away and switching to the other, to apply it some attention too.

She arched her chest into his mouth, and bit her lip to contain her frantic cries.

"And, you don't want me…" She trailed as he detached completely, pulled her in for a kiss, before ripping her skirt down from her body, her lacy panties hitting the floor soon after.

She worked on the belt buckle of his jeans and when the material hit the ground, successfully along with his boxers, he grabbed her hands and turned her back to face the chair, her body bent over the desk.

"Shut up." He whispered huskily in her ear, tightening his grip on her hands which were flattened once more against the glass of the surface of the desk.

She whipped her head around over her shoulder, and wiggled her back against his manhood, which was now pressing against her.

"Make me."

He bent down to bite her neck, before he slammed into her from behind, the angle causing her to scream out, in absolute pleasure at the feeling of the position.

He started off slow, rocking into her wetness, squeezing her hands with every thrust he would emit into her.

"Oh, Troy!" She moaned, as he sped up his ministrations, concentrating, moving his hands to her hips where he pulled her, moving her as well as himself.

"I don't want to hear anything but you screaming."

She tilted her head forward, as he rolled his hips.

"Oh, god…" She cried, as he slowed down suddenly, leaning back down to her ear.

"Promise me," He said his breath ragged, and uneven, as he continued his pelvis movements, despite her breathy moans.

"Anything." She spoke, her eyes shut tight, as he moved a little bit faster.

"Promise me, that you'll never stop loving me." He spoke, and she bit her lip, at his words, hearing the desperate plead in them.

"I never stopped, shit Troy!" He was back at a different speed now, a harder, faster pace, bucking his hips into her ass so roughly that it caused her body to tip with each stroke.

"Just promise…" He was so close, going as fast as he could, making her body move at an unusual standard.

"Oh, fuck!" Gabriella screamed, in anticipation, she was drawing out moans, as Troy placed a hand on her back, as he grunted, adding force to every one of his penetrations.

"Promise, me Brie.."

"Jesus, yes! I love you, and I will never stop, I won't ever…oh yes!" She said, as he bucked his hips one last time as hard and harshly as he could and sent them both into that crescendo at the same time, her drawn out scream, echoing off of the white walls along with his groaned out chorus of her name.

But that wasn't what that added to the defying moment, where all you could hear was the sound of heavily breathing lovers.

It was the shell shocked look on both of the lovers' faces, at the words that had escaped her lips in front of him.

Something she vowed she would never, ever speak of ever to him.

The fact that she was in love with him, and now he knew it.

But what was worse? The fact that as he laid his head onto her back, he realized that he craved that love, and that he was never going to let her go.

Ever.

**A/N: Lol, this chapter didn't really have a point just for you guys to get to know Harry a little bit, also with a flash from the past, some m-rated Troyella goodness, and the L word has been thrown out, think it's going to cause trouble? **

**Nah, I wouldn't do that to you guys...*winks*.**

**REVIEW!!!**

**-Mimi**


	5. A Resolution

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: Well, Since it was Christmas I have decided I would leave everyone with a little belated gift. ****So, since this story holds such a complicated plot, and in the last chapter I concluded to make it even more complicated, I'm going to make this chapter a very simple, and seemingly normal.**

**Okay, I'll try, lol. **

**BTW: This chapter is named after Aaliyah's song, "We Need a Resolution", which is an awesome song. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, do you think that it would be rated g?**

Chapter 4

Gabriella Montez had very little trouble processing complicating things.

One of the reasons, that she was one of the brightest minds in her class in high school, and in the industry of her job. She could do formations in her head in mere seconds, and recite problematical things in mere milliseconds.

When she was informed of information, she never was one to spend time trying to understand, or analyze.

She just wished she could say the same thing about her friends.

They were the most confusing, overreacting, and in Sharpay's case Dramatic group of individuals she had ever encountered. And when came situations like the one at hand, that were deemed 'crisis', she never got anything of what she expected of them.

Most normal friends were supposed to be comforting and helpful, providing the advice and supplying the Ben and Jerry's, when needed.

But nothing was ever normal in Gabriella's life.

Her friends were comforting to a certain extent, offering their…advice, and helpful.

Sort of.

She loved them, she really did, but when she was currently stressed so high above the normal line of stressing that she was sure one of her chocolate curls were gonna fall out, the first thing that she was expecting to hear from them, her blonde one in particular, was not,

"You fucked on a desk!?"

That.

Gabriella was incoherently pacing around her living room, having sent Juliana to her grandmother's after picking her up from school.

"Shar, yes, my desk, in my office!" She said, rolling her eyes, at her friend's lack of understanding.

Leave it to Sharpay Evans to pick the most unimportant fact of the statement.

The Blonde had been chauffeured from her hotel at the expense of Gabriella's frantic phone call to her cell, and had blurted into her house clad in an Elle Woods like ensemble, more sparkles than ever.

"In your office, in the middle of the morning, while your employees were still there, holy-fuck!"

"It slipped Shar, it slipped!" Gabriella cried exasperatedly, running her fingers through her locks yet another time that day. Sharpay seemed to obviously missed whatever else Gabriella had spoken, because she snapped her head up.

"What slipped?"

"It! The words! Those fucking-I told him I loved him, or that I never stopped which in reality is telling him that I still loved him…" She paced even more frequently, on the verge of a panic attack.

"I'm already texting Taylor." Sharpay declared, before pressing a button and pressing the phone to her ear.

"But he was, okay with it, or something, he laid his head on me, as if…as if content…"

"Martha? How fast can you get to L.A?"

"Like he knew, like he was just waiting on me to voice it…" Gabriella continued to muse, ignorant of Sharpay and her one sided conversation with their friend.

The reason both looked in surprise as a swollen Taylor opened the door to the house, not bothering to knock, curly hair in her face, breathing as if just ran a marathon.

"A fucking desk?" She exclaimed, with a slight grin to her features.

Gabriella put a hand on her forehead, her recent level of strain mounting to an even higher number.

"My office desk, Tay…" Gabriella spoke for the millionth time, the realization of the fact hitting her at full force.

The dark-skinned girl, seven months pregnant with the baby of Chad Danforth, wobbled over to the couch, settling down next to a now sat Sharpay.

"The cedar desk we picked out?" She spoke, in a small voice, causing a smile to cross Sharpay's features, and a chuckle to escape her mouth.

"Taylor, seriously, evil spawn heavy today?" She spoke referring of her name of the unborn child.

"Somewhat, wait a minute, Anally?" Taylor inquired, with wide eyes, and Sharpay gasped herself, having forgotten to ask the most important question in her opinion.

Gabriella felt the red take over her cheeks and she groaned, before placing her head into her open hands, a meltdown erupting from within.

Again.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! From the back?" Chad questioned to his best friend, as they sat around in his gigantic living room, a forgotten about basketball game playing in front of their faces.

Jason, and Zeke, also sat, Zeke, having gotten into town that morning, dragged by his fiancé.

Troy was in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

As a matter of fact, he had been in the middle two hours ago, it was now more of a panic attack, heavy hyperventilating type thing going through his body at the moment as he paced through the walls of his home.

"Chad, that is not the point of the situation!"

"So you did?" The afroed man asked.

Troy rolled his eyes.

"Dude, I don't know what came over me, but she told me she never stopped loving me, and it was like…"

"Like laying down on those plush cotton sheets after running all day?" Zeke offered with a smirk.

"Right, like-like I was…home."

"Home? Dude of course you were home, you were buried inside of her, _from the back_!" Chad exclaimed standing and clapping a deep in thought Troy on the back.

"But I feel like now that I know, I can't stop thinking about it, at all." He said gazing off at something far away it seemed.

"When have you ever stop thinking about her?" Zeke cut in once more.

"I mean, we were both angry, and we said things that shouldn't have been said, but that was…deliberate, and I know really, now, and I can't let it go." He gave a slight smile at the revelation, and plopped down cushion of his white couch.

"But," Jason spoke for the first time, having just sat and listened for the last few moments.

"Are you sure that you haven't known all along, and really have only finally been able to convince yourself now that she's voiced it aloud?" He questioned, causing Troy to stare at him wildly.

Had he?

Had he just been denying the obvious fact that Gabriella was still head over heels in love with him, and him with her, and not just because of their daughter?

Was the whole anger and aggression towards all the different dates, and "friends" been the jealously of not being to have her in the same way, emotionally?

That answer was bouncing through his brain, had been, and was still going to be.

Yes.

* * *

Twenty minutes after Taylor had calmed Gabriella down from her anxiety attack, of the anal question, Martha had arrived.

"What's the problem?" She asked a brown paper bag, clutched tightly in her hands.

"The 'L' word dropped out of Gabriella's mouth as her and Troy were fucking on her desk, this morning." Sharpay spoke, fanning her friend off as she sat in her leather chair.

"Fucking hell, on a desk?" Martha asked stunned eyes darting around to Taylor and Sharpay.

"Anally." Taylor said with a grin, that was so minx like, in so many aspects that Gabriella had to shoot her a threatening glare.

"Well I'm glad I bought tequila." She said, pulling the tall clear bottle out of the brown bag.

Gabriella's eyes widened at the sight of the blunt bottle of liquor, and Sharpay started to clap with excitement and glee. The memory of the last time she had come into contact with said liquid flooded her brain once more and she instantly protested.

"No, no, no!" She blurted out, standing to exit the, room, if needed.

"Yes!" Sharpay spoke, too quick for the brunette, grabbing her arm, and slinging her back into the chair.

"Shar, I can't! You know for sure that I do not hold tequila, at all!" But her words were futile, drowned out by the sound of Martha already pouring the clear fluid.

She turned into the direction of a grinning Martha, holding out a shot glass in one hand.

"I…" She stared at the tempting object. Her ultimate addiction being the burning substance.

"_Have another?" The bearded man behind the counter spoke to her._

_Her curls were sticking to her forehead, sweat being the paste, and she was leant over, her blue sweater wrapped around her fingers as they clutched the empty shot glass. __The smell of her breath, was wafting through the air as she breathed out her reply, with a lopsided grin._

"_Just one more…" She spoke, realizing that it was probably the twelfth time she had said that, that evening._

_The man, laughed, and poured another shot into the glass, and Gabriella downed it with no trouble._

_She had a right._

_He had showed her he didn't want her. That he didn't love her. _

"_I wasn't good enough for him, Walt," She slurred as she slammed the empty glass back on the surface of the bar._

_The man deemed Walter, turned to the Latina that he had come to know and love, the one that was drinking her money away._

"_I wasn't fucking good enough, I bared his child for nine months, fat as a fucking cow, and I gave birth to his fucking little girl, and I wasn't good enough!" She said, venom lacing her usually milky tone of voice._

_Walter placed his hand upon the girl's back, as she laid her head on the bar counter, tears flowing from her eyes, the purpose of her being at the bar showing. __Her depression and unhappiness drove her to that bar, and she started out with a single glass, of wine and ended up to thirteen shots of tequila, and a shit load of the truth spilling from her lips at Walter._

"_I was a faithful girlfriend, I called when needed, I was there for him, I still am there for him, damn it!" She said, with a hiccup._

_He watched the small girl, look up at him from her short and small moment of contemplation and then, reach into her purse for the money._

"_No, charge Gabs." He spoke, feeling for the poor girl._

_She smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Walt." She stepped from her stool, but lost her balance instantly and hit the floor with a thud._

"_But only if you promise me you will find a cab home." He spoke, with a slight laugh, as she hoisted herself from the floor._

"_I Promise." _

"Give me that damn glass." She spoke, taking the glass and tipping it backwards, sliding the liquid down her throat quickly. The burning sensation a sweet feeling to her.

She plopped down on the couch, and Sharpay sat up.

"A wise person once told me that when there is alcohol in your system, the truth always comes out."

Gabriella rolled her eyes at her friend's reason.

"What truth? Everything is seemingly out in the open, Sharpay!" She spoke, placing a pillow firmly over her face, unwilling to voice what was already out there.

Taylor snickered, and Sharpay beckoned for the bottle, in which the sound of it being poured was heard, and Gabriella groaned.

* * *

"What the fuck, is going on?"

The three boys looked up in surprise at the woman standing in the door way of the house, shopping bag handles between her fingers. They were still standing, in the all white living room, chocolate and chips, and other colored items of food laden all around them.

"Just when you thought the wicked witch of the west was dead, she found that damn trap door…" Chad said, with an eye roll.

"Fuck you, Chad, what the fuck is all this shit doing in my living, room?" She spat, tossing her purchases off to the side.

Her spiky heels clicked as she strutted around the white couch, turning the flat screen TV well off, and standing in front of it with her hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Watch you language, Liz," Troy spoke seriously looking up at her, but not standing.

"I will not watch my fucking language! Troy," She screamed, the high pitch of her voice sliding through Troy's ears, making him cringe, and he fought the urge to roll his cyan eyes.

"There are other people in this house, and how many times do I have to tell you that this living room is white, so it is meant to be clean at all times? Do you even listen to me when I am talking to you?"

Troy just stared up at her.

His real reply?

Hell no. He didn't. He just hoped the roaring in his ear would drown out the wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah bullshit that was emptying from her mouth.

That voice, thinking that it ran everything, that voice not having any class, but giving itself the authority to take the house over. That voice that drove him to the breaking point where all her ever wanted to say was...

Fuck You.

It's fingers were snapping, in his face, in front of his eyes. "Troy? Troy? Are you fucking listening to me?"

"Watch your fucking language, and yes I heard you." He spoke, calmly, despite, his internal thoughts, before he leant back onto the couch, clicking the button on the remote control and turning the TV back on, the game system he was currently focused on springing back to life.

"Sure, just clean the shit up, got it?" She said stalking off, snatching her bags up in turn.

"God Gabriella was right." Chad spoke, sending a glare to the back of the figure that was far down the hallway.

Troy grimaced, "Your telling me."

* * *

Gabriella stood on the kitchen table, a birthday hat from Juliana's third party sitting on her head, and a fluffy scarf sitting around her neck.

The spice girls was blasting from the speakers of her stereo, and if some people would have just by chance randomly walked in to look at her they probably would have told you,

She was drunk.

Pissed, as some would say. Far gone, away, and spilling every living secret and detail from her lips as if her only way of surviving.

And her friends?

They just watched. They had been here, seen her drunk like this before, seen her sing at the top of her lungs, and fall usually. They were just waiting.

"Gabby, come down before you kill yourself!" Taylor screamed over the music, and Gabriella giggled, before plopping down on the wood surface.

"You, know Troy once said that to me." She slurred, as Sharpay, hooked her arms under hers and dragged her to the living room couch where she sat her, and looked her in the eyes.

"Why?" She asked as if interested, and Martha turned the music down.

"Because I climbed up on my roof when we were in high school, and I almost fell, and so he was yelling for me to come down." She said, a lopsided grin heavy on her face. It was quiet as Gabriella sat staring that same distant smile on her face, before it disappeared completely and the tears fell fast down her cheeks.

"I..I-I'm still in love with him…" She sobbed, and Taylor engulfed the poor girl, as she cried, truly confused.

"Oh, we know Gabs." She spoke soothingly, running her fingers through the black locks.

"He, knows it now, and h-he still probably doesn't want me, and I'm just so stupid, and I have always been…"

Taylor shook her head as if Gabriella was looking at her. "No, your not, he's just a giant dick, and doesn't know what he has."

Taylor regretted this, because she knew she was lying through her teeth.

She knew for a fact that Troy Bolton loved everything about her best friend, and more. She knew his greatest dream was to be with her, forever…officially.

But he was too big of an idiot to act on that.

"No I don't Eliza! I don't appreciate you calling my fucking phone, about my fiancé, because in reality I couldn't give two fucks about you and your goddamned white couch!" Sharpay bellowed into the receiver of her cell phone.

The blonde fumed as she stalked around the living room, searching for her keys.

"Don't you dare!" Taylor warned to her knowing her exact thoughts.

"Hello? Hel-" Sharpay slapped her phone shut.

"This bitch is asking for an ass whooping."

* * *

"Hells yeah! I'm gonna win!"

The sounds of Chad claiming victory over Troy echoed around the living room of the house, as Jason and Zeke watched on, that is until a phone rang.

"Hey, babe," Zeke answered, only to met with a rage filled fiancé on his line, cursing at an all time high.

"She called you? Calm down, Shar, she was just pissed off. Yes, I know that you have a shovel in the back of your car, but she is just talking, you know like she always does."

Zeke rolled his panic filled eyes.

"Uh-oh, Blondie's mad." Chad spoke, his eyes never leaving the screen.

Zeke put the girl on speaker phone.

"_Tell Bolton to control his bitch, because I swear to god Zeke if she ever calls my phone with that kind of shit again, I will beat her in the face with a fucking brick, I promise to god!" _

"I know, hun, just breathe."

"_I will not! She does not know who she is fucking with! I will take a knife and cut that damn white couch to shreds!" _

"_You will not that couch cost thousands.." _A voice slurred and Troy caught ear and his head snapped away from the game in an instant.

"Shar, what is wrong with Gabs?" Zeke asked, at the sight of his friend's face.

"_Tequila."_

"SHE'S DRUNK?" Troy roared, standing and snatching Zeke's phone from his hand.

"_Calm your balls! She just had a few shots, and she's a little tipsy, you wouldn't want to know the reason, would you?" _

Troy paled, and locked his jaw. Really not wanting to hear the reason.

"I swear to god Sharpay I'm on my way, and if she is too pissed, I will murder you in your sleep." He spoke, before throwing the phone into Zeke's lap.

He grabbed his keys and exited the house slamming the door.

Zeke looked down at his phone, questioning to his fiancé.

"Sharpay?"

"_Guess, I should tell you that I love you then, babe." _

**A/N: Yeah, lol, I was watching my sisters get drunk and that came to my mind, lol. So, very random. **

**REVIEW!**

**-Mimi**


	6. Halo

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: So, I hope everyone had happy holidays, I sure did, I got a guitar! Lol, another thing for me to learn to do this new year. Now, this is me informing you guys of my new years resolution to update faster on all my stories. I think I'm gonna try and do like a rotating schedule, lol.**

**Try.**

**But don't get your hopes up, because most of you guys know how difficult it is to juggle stories.**

**Especially six. **

**But I'm known for excelling at a fast past, so I am gonna try my best to give good chapters every time, with every story, but you just gotta trust in me and bear with me. Okay? I knew you guys would understand!**

**Now, Also, I wanna thank all my faithful reviewers that drop comments or suggestions on how to make my story better for every single chapter. You never fail to crack me up, my friends. They may be short, simple, little remarks, or they may be a long juicy paragraphs (my favorite) but they always make me smile and inspire me to do better every time. So, thanks and I love you guys, I really, really, do.**

**BTW: I name this after Beyonce's new single "Halo", because she is a pure entertainer and this song is beauty in itself.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, do you think that it would be rated g?**

Chapter 6

Angry wasn't even close to being the right adjective to describe the integrating feelings soaring fluidly through Troy's veins.

His speedometer was living proof, for he had passed anger when the dial passed ninety-five.

It was currently inching towards one hundred and three.

His knuckles were white, as he gripped the steering wheel in his hard palms, thinking of the state Gabriella was probably in.

She was the most idiotic intelligent person, he had ever met in his entire life.

She knew without a doubt that ever since high school, she had never been able to hold tequila. It led to many memorable nights of drunken stirs, and sickness, but still even after all those years, he was not surprised that she was still not capable of knowing when to say 'when'.

He clenched his teeth at the stupidity of the love of his life, and he glanced over to the speedometer which was detecting one hundred and five.

And then it was more like fury that was the key to his actions, to his pending pulsating emotions.

He was, overreacting, he knew. He wasn't even her boyfriend, it wasn't his job to take care of her anymore, for she was no longer his problem. Therefore, his fury was irrelevant. The only thing that was supposed to be bonding the two was that little girl that they made together.

But it was a primal piece of information that the true string bonding Troy and Gabriella was not their daughter,

But their undying love for each other.

It was a little overdramatic, much like their blonde friend. Which just brought on the forgotten feelings that had left him momentarily.

It had ascended back up to one hundred and nine, now.

Rage.

And even though it was that same sparkle filled actress of a friend that allowed her to be so irresponsible in front of her face, Troy did not fully blame her.

Because he knew without a doubt that in reality it was not Sharpay that led her to the drunken stage she was most definitely in, it was the fact that she loved him, and that he still had not confessed his own true feelings to her.

Sure, he had shown them, but had that been enough?

Had actions truly beyond doubt, spoke louder than his silent words?

Had she understood that he would do anything for her, give his life, take care of her, and that she was everything to him?

Well, obviously not, because those words, those seemingly meaningless words, that actually meant everything, were lodged deep inside of him, and were being held hostage. Afraid of coming out. So it was also his fault, and his disappointment in himself was enough to take the speedometer back down to about seventy, but not hiding the still vivacious stance of discomfort at the fact that Gabriella was sulking, and had turned to liquor in place of him.

He was seriously screwing everything up, even more so by not knowing what to do.

Sharpay's words were echoing back to him, as he pulled up next to the patiently waiting limo, sitting outside of the house he was familiar with.

Abandoning the keys in his ignition, but not without turning it off, he practically sprinted up the walkway, walking into the house, ignoring the fact that he was supposed to have knocked on the white wood.

But did he ever?

He was met with the sight of Gabriella sitting on the side of the couch, cold rag sitting a top of her obviously sweaty forehead, the birthday hat hanging off of her head as she buried her face into the provided bucket, apparently from Sharpay.

"Troy, before you start-" The blonde started off tiredly, but he cut her off heading straight towards the mother of his child.

"Shar, I honestly have nothing to say to you, because this is as much as my fault, if not more, as it is your's, so just go home and get sleep."

Sharpay opened and closed her mouth, as if ready to counter, but clearly found her unspoken words hiding in the basis meaning of the sentence. So she set her mouth in a thin line, and threw her scarf over her shoulder, her diva returning.

"I love you Gabs, call me tell me how she's doing tomorrow." And with that her spiky heels clicked against the concrete as she exited the house and the property all together.

Troy, ran his fingers through the matted brunette locks, as she hunched over the bucket, the last remains of her in-sober feelings falling from her mouth.

He patted her back before, lifting her bridal style.

"Hey…Troy Bolton, Troy-boy, Troy the basketball boy, oh why are you carrying me? I-I can't believe your even touching me, I look, Hideous…" She then started to cry, short small tears leaking from her eyes, and Troy couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're as beautiful as ever, Gabi, but you know that you cannot hold tequila, why did you do this again?"

Gabriella looked up at him, as she realized they had reached the bedroom, and he sat her gently on the bed they owned.

"I-it was…Sh-Sharpay's idea, I promise, you see what had happened was…"

Troy rolled is eyes, as he went towards the drawers, finding night clothes for her to put own.

"…And, I was hurting…" He flinched at the words that left, and he stood in front of her raising her arms over her head and pulling the shirt from her body, leaving her in a simple cotton bra, and she rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to treat me like I'm two, Troy, god your such a dick! That's always how you always been…ugh!" Tory ignored her random mini temper tantrum, and smiled before nudging her backwards on the bed, where she fell with a lump.

And bursted out in uncontrollable laughter.

Her hair splayed out on the white pillows, and her chest now covered with the silky fabric of the nightgown he had slid over her head.

He yanked the jeans from her body, pulling the fabric over her thighs and legs. He watched her as she scooted upwards on the bed, her laughter being dead. The bags under her eyes and the way they were drooping sleepily signaling that sleep wasn't far off.

He pulled his own shirt from his body, and slid under the covers with her, cocking a half smile as she snuggled closer to him.

"You always take care of me, Troy…"

He closed his eyes, his hand making it's way towards her hair, where it stroked.

"I love you…" She slurred, before drifting deeply into a sleep of hopefully good dreams.

Tory sighed, before turning the lamp off beside him.

"I know, baby."

* * *

_"Yo! Who's the black sheep? What's the black sheep? Know not who I am or when I'm coming so you sleep!…"_

The loud obnoxious singing voices of the people who she called her family, woke Gabriella from her slumber, dead pan into a searing pain to strip her forehead. She distinctly could make out the loud beat to the song the had come to hate over the years, but had put up with.

It was Troy's routine song.

His favorite song.

And he was complimenting that song by singing abnormally louder than the average ear drum level could take. Five keys from the tune that the song was actually in. Which was saying a lot because said song was a rap song.

A tiny voice was accompanying him and she vaguely made it out the voice of her four year old.

And as she lay clutching the confines of her forehead as it throbbed very painfully as the music got louder it seemed, she wondered.

How did she get like this?

And then she remembered.

Short statements of the events, involving I love you, Sharpay arguing, tequila, and Troy snuggling next to her, being some of the choice few. She threw her head back, with a sigh, the harsh reality of the turn of things, frustrating her to a new height, only making her head hurt worse with the feeling.

She had taken tequila.

After her conscience had repeatedly told her that she could not handle it, she had taken it anyway.

And she knew that Troy was going to kill her when she was fully awake to face the wrath.

But, then the little voice that had been commonly known as the "devil", was sliding through her once more.

Saying, _Who is he to tell you what you can and can not do? _

"The love of my life." She spoke to it, remembering that he was the reason she had turned to drinking, or basically her friends had turned her to drinking.

Aha!

It was not her fault entirely because she had been edged on by her friends and had not been able to resist the constant pressure of them.

She sounded like an after-school special.

But she didn't care, she refused to go and get chastised like she was three because the father of her kids, felt like he needed to. And then she felt like she needed to give him a piece of her own mind, and so, with the frustration flaring, she emptied her self slowly from her bed, groaning as gravity came in contact with her feet.

"Shit.."

She spoke, and she grabbed the side of the nightstand to steady herself, before she stood to her full height and surveyed her space of a room, mostly looking for something to cover herself.

Spotting a robe she slowly and steadily made her way over to pick the silky substance of clothing up and wrap it consciously around her body. Running her fingers through her curls, which were matted to a severe extent, she clutched every furniture piece to help her make her way to the living room.

Upon entering she spotted her daughter sitting a top of her fathers shoulders, a baseball hat twisted to the side both expertly rapping along to the song that was still going from the stereo.

A Kodak moment, some would say.

Gabriella couldn't help but stare, a smile on her face, at the ridiculousness of the whole sight, giggles threatening to escape her lips.

"_Engine, Engine number ni_-" Both faces turned in her direction when the resounding beat to the song went off unexpectedly to them.

But she could not say her head didn't feel ten pounds lighter when both faces smiled at her presence.

"Good morning Mommy!" Julie exclaimed, as Troy pulled her from his shoulders to run up to Gabriella hugging her.

"Good morning, you and Daddy having a party?" Gabriella spoke, looking down at her little girl.

The little curl nodded her head vigorously. "Daddy, said that you were tired but the only way you would wake up was if we sang his favorite song.." She said looking back at Troy as if to confirm her words.

"Really?" Gabriella spoke looking over at Troy, raising her eyebrows, at him, in which he chuckled.

"Yes." She said confidently.

"Well, it worked because I'm up now," She said, her grogginess seeming to disappear, but the headache raging on more persistently.

"Come, on puppy, let's go get some breakfast." Troy spoke lifting his daughter up on his hip, and walking her to the kitchen where he sat her at the table, before turning to Gabriella.

"Headache?" He spoke, before handing a glass of something that resembled orange juice only, more highlighter orange than yellow, and more chunky than juicy.

"What is in this?" She spoke disgustedly, holding the glass up to eye level.

He laughed. "Now, if told you before you drank it, I'm not sure you would drink it."

She narrowed her eyes at him, before warily sliding the substances down her throat. She made a face, and Troy slapped his hand over her mouth, before she could spit it out, forcing her to swallow.

When she finally did, he removed his hand gesturing for her to open her mouth, as if she was two, once again making her slightly frustrated.

She held her tongue out for him to see and he smiled.

"First taste is always the worst."

She slapped him up side his head, long overdue from the night before, and turned on the water on in the sink.

"God, I can't stand you, that was disgusting…"

"Syrup, egg yolk, Pepto Bismol, orange juice, tomato juice, hot sauce-"

"Stop! Stop! Thanks, just thanks for...yeah." He laughed at her as she sat the glass down, and poured some water into a separate glass.

"Wild, night, huh?"

It was as if a switch had been flipped, and he had gone from seemingly happy to fuming in a matter of seconds, and while he was sizzling things in the black skillet.

"Troy…"

"Don't even come with the bullshit, Gabriella," He spoke quietly, venom lacing the harsh tone of words.

"I'm sorry!" She whispered, knowing before he got started that he was about to tear her to shreds.

"Sorry my ass. How stupid can you be? Getting drunk? I seem to remember you vowing to me, that you would never get wasted like you did that night, you remember that? Huh?" He spat quickly moving rapidly turning eyes on the stove, and throwing food in separate pans.

"No exceptions to that promise, Brie, nothing excuses what you did."

"Really? I can think of some things." She said pointedly her frustration from minutes ago appearing in her stance as she locked her jaw bracing herself for the sure to come argument.

"I'm not a fucking child, Troy! If I want to get drunk, then I can! Julie was not around, and plus I did not even plan it!" She rolled his cyan eyes, that had stopped boring into her finally, and turned to face her. Inches away from her face, he leant down to her level.

"If I ever see you pissed like that again, I will beat the living crap out of you myself," He spat, "Save Harry a job."

She slapped him so hard he could taste the fury from her fingers.

Turning with a short but deadly, "Fuck you!", she made her way to her room where she slammed her bedroom door.

Troy mentally slapped himself, for his proof of stupidity and ran his fingers through his brown locks.

"Daddy, mommy's not hungry?" Juliana questioned, and Troy smiled at her despite the blood red bruise appearing on his cheek.

"No, Puppy, she's just still a little tired, she'll eat later, okay?" He spoke softly, taking a quick glance at the spot where she had just stood, before turning his attention back to the food that he was attempting to prepare.

* * *

And hour and a half later, after showers had been taken, food had been swallowed, and silence had been a factor, Tory knocked on his ex-girlfriend's bedroom door.

"Gabriella," He called, and he wasn't surprised to see the door open to his expense.

She was still angry but not so much as to her actions from earlier.

"What?" was her short but stern and cold reply, her head cast downward.

His words had stung, hanging in the air after his delayed silence. They were fierce and agonizing, making her wanna crawl into the earth.

They were true.

It was obvious she didn't deal well with truth. So his icy statement, was in plain sight, and filled with honesty. It was the epitome of his frustrations from all the while ago, that had not disappeared, especially with the unexpected events happening.

Only making it worse.

It was enough to bring back the pending pity from earlier, enough to make him want to say sorry, and fix the damage that he had further inflicted.

But he didn't.

He put on the facade, and worked her, like he usually did, saying in a truly firm voice,

"Let's go."

She snapped her head up, most likely wanting to argue about how she wasn't going anywhere with him.

But her headache was too pulsing, despite the healing efforts of his disgusting beverage, it still was a tiny twinge hitting her in the side of her head from the pounding of the original problem.

There was no question, as she grabbed her jean jacket, winds blowing even in the sunlight. He didn't protest to her white dress and her red Christian Louboutin sandals. They exited the house without a word, Julie in tow her hand attached to her fathers as they made their way to the silver Mercedes.

"Julie's got to be at daycare in twenty minutes." Gabriella felt she should voice, just in case he had not known.

He raised an eyebrow, as he opened the passenger door for her.

"I know." He slammed the door, before heading to his own side, clicking his seatbelt with equal force and propping his sunglasses on his nose.

And they smashed into the highway, Troy setting a speed, that neither could follow.

"I think we need to spend some quality time together." He spoke after a moment of unwanted silence.

"We?" Gabriella questioned, sass from that long passed hour still echoing out of her.

"We, as in you and I." He spoke, switching lanes, not blinking from what she could tell through his black sunglasses.

"You act as if we are bound by law or something."

He bit back his reply an looked over at her quickly.

"We aren't but, there is some kind of odd fucking gap between us Gabby, and we will work it out. I refuse not to have a solid relationship with the mother of my child."

She scoffed. "Like the one we have now is solid? Troy, you can paint a perfect picture in your head like everything is fine and dandy but you cannot blow off the fact that in reality we are nothing short of dysfunctional!"

"We will discuss it later." Troy cut her off, calmly only making her want to punch him in the face harder.

"No, I want to discuss it now!"

He slammed on the breaks particularly hard.

"I said later." He snapped, and his tone shut her mouth, invisibly sealing her tongue to the roof of her mouth.

She threw a last withering look at him, her mocha eyes seeming to betray their owner as they locked with the stormy, oceanic pupils of his, before she folded her arms across her chest, much like a post temper-tantrum child.

He continued his silent drive, ignoring both her and her attitude.

Finally they pulled up to the school, Gabriella exiting the car in order to kiss her daughter goodbye.

"Mommy, are you and Daddy in a fight?" She asked a look of confusion etched onto to her small face.

Gabriella looked back at Troy, then at her daughter, and flattened the long locks of curls she had inherited from her mother.

"No, honey, Daddy just doesn't agree with Mommy," She said with a slight smile.

"Oh, well, do you want me to tell you what grandma told me?" She spoke, confidently and Gabriella smiled more widely.

"What did grandma tell you?"

"She said if you asked me for um…advice to tell you that you should start agreeing with Daddy more often."

Gabriella raised her eyebrows at the words that sounded exactly like they had emptied from her mother's mouth.

"Well, then I'll just take you advice, then and maybe when Daddy and I come back and get you we'll be in a happier mood, sound good?"

"Yes!" She said jubilation echoing off of her as Gabriella kissed her forehead.

"I love you." She said, standing to her height as she watched her daughter run off to her waiting teacher, before she got back into the car. The little girl turned back to wave at the car, aiming it obviously to Troy, who waved back, as he pulled off.

"She said I should agree with you more often." Gabriella said pointedly as they drove.

"You should listen to her, she seems to be holding more intelligence than you at the moment."

Gabriella resisted the urge to reach over and hit him.

"You're an ass."

"I'm not angry at you Gabriella." He said shortly.

"I don't care, Troy. You're treating me as if I have betrayed you or something, as if I am the one to blame for the situation!"

She was fuming.

But so was he.

"There is no situation, you fucked up, Gabriella! There is no getting around that fact, you made a mistake-"

"For once! For once between us I made the problem! Aren't you glad? But you know all I did was get drunk!" She yelled, it was extremely frustrating, and before she knew it the truth was pouring out of her like water.

"Yes! But you promised me Gabby!"

"You promised me a lot of things too, Troy!"

He knew what she was talking about. It was a big word for him. And he had trouble containing it.

Promise.

All those years ago, he had made that word deadly to Gabriella. Choking on it many times.

"All those things, all those years ago, twice as big. All I did was break one measly freaking promise about drinking! Think of everything you promised me!"

She was trying to hold it back, to push it into her mind, into her bubble of denial. He was fighting, speeding as he switched lanes. Before he pulled over to the side of the road.

Unbuckling his seatbelt he opened the door, and walked to the other side of the car where he opened her door.

"Do you love me?" He said, his hands cupping her face, and tears were flowing onto his fingers.

She couldn't do this. It was too much for her to take. His coarse but soft fingers were etching an invisible message into her face it seemed.

Tell him.

"I can't." She spoke, her words nothing short of a whisper. He studied her face fed up.

"You can't, but do you?" He spoke, and she raised her hands to his, her eyes streaming with the salty water of her feelings.

"I don't."

He stared at her, burning a hole through her face, through her heart with his piercing stare.

"Then there is a hole. Between us, and I don't know what to do with it, or what to fill it with. But it's killing me slowly. Because the more I let it sit there, the more time I am letting you slip away because I'm too much of a wimp to try and make something work."

She closed her eyes at his words. Something so true, so close to what she had wanted to hear was hurting her.

"I am addicted to you. I can't let you go, but I can't move forward with you. I don't know how. But I know you feel the same way. And I will figure this out, and fix whatever I have broken."

And his lips pressed against her again. Silencing whatever protest she had planned or spontaneously thought of.

They were moving against hers forming words. A language that he was trying desperately to get her to understand. Defining what he felt, but also what she felt, defining love and aggression.

Defining them.

And though it was obvious she wanted more, that she needed more,

She was fine with that hole.

**A/N: That was **_**not**_** how I planned to end that chapter. As a matter of fact that was not even how the second part of the chapter was planned out. I actually had about two thousand more words planned on how they go out with Juliana and make Gabriella's headache worse, and then this angsty conversation. But hell, I was sick, lol.**

**Review, peeps! **

**-Mimi**


	7. Hopeless

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: So, hello!! Folks!!**

**So, this last chapter that I wrote I was very nervous about it when I posted it. Because I don't have a great track record with angst stories, but you guys!!**

**You guys responded really well! I freaking adored everyone's review and they were so inspiring in so many ways, and I know I said this the last chapter but I really appreciate the time and effort you guys put into my story. **

**It wouldn't be what it is without you guys! Especially four reviewers whom I know I thanked already personally but I know deserved a shout-out on this chapter!**

**cestiallove56- You were the third reviewer and lol, your review especially made me laugh. You were so thoughtful especially on the argument and I enjoyed your opinion on Gabriella's mother and such, and I hope you looked up that song like you told me, lol. You'll find I have the weirdest taste in music. I practically listen to anything. **

**smartgirl231814- Thank-you for wishing me well on my guitar, lol. Sometimes I don't think people read my incessant Author's "rambles", lol. I hope I cleared everything up about Juliana, because I also do not believe in that, lol. Even though my parents aren't the poster children for proper manners, lol. I'm really happy that you liked the confession and the angst. I worked really hard on that part and believe me it was based on a real experience, lol.**

**rachrep- I don't know how many times I can express how it was a great surprise and honor it is to find out that you actually read my story and enjoy it. Thank-you and I can say the same if not more for you. I'm glad that you consider my story great romance, and I just can't say enough of the gratitude that I have from your sweet and nice review.**

**And last but not least, sunnycouger- I was especially impressed on your insightful analyzed thoughts of Troy, lol. They really were satisfying and I'm sorry that I have you hating Troy, lol. Hell, I have myself hating Troy actually, which is hard to do with the body of a god, lol. But your review especially served as inspiration and filled a post it note or two on my walls of ideas, so yes I did use everything you said to my advantage, so yeah, you co-wrote a little, lol. Thank-you for taking the time to voice your opinion on my characterization, I appreciate it, you know?**

**Well, anyways enough of my ridonculously long author's note, and on with the next chapter!! Um, you get a little point of view from an old friend, in this chapter!**

**Enjoy!!**

**BTW: This chapter is entitled after a line in the song "Love Bug" by the Jonas Brothers, because I can't help but love them. Go Buy HSM3 on DVD!!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, do you think that it would be rated g?**

Chapter 7

"Is there a reason you think you need to take all of your relationship frustrations out on me?" The blonde dancer known as Ryan Evans questioned.

He walked side by side with Gabriella down the sidewalk of the beautiful Descanso Gardens, both hands occupied with the cups of ice cream they had acquired before entering.

Juliana was not too far away in the front of them, bouncing a basketball, almost expertly under her fingers.

He was visiting Gabriella, upon a call from his all too interfering sister, stating that he needed to go and visit the old time friend. So, obediently, he drove to meet his friend from his home in San Francisco, where he lived for almost four years now after settling with his wife, Kelsi.

He hadn't visited the brunette in a while. Not since she had ended her relationship with Harry, the year prior, as a matter of fact.

For he was the head of that demolition.

When Gabriella needed him, he came. When crisis struck he was there hugging her, talking her through it, when no one else could be there. When the person she wanted the most to be there, wasn't.

He was her right hand man as some would say.

Much like the title Troy carried.

"Nope, you decided to come, so you subjected your own self to this torture." She said with a laugh, looking down into her cup.

"Well, either way Sharpay would have probably called and told me everything, so I guess I saved myself an earful." He said a short chuckle of his own emitting from his mouth.

He glanced straight at the little girl laughing ahead of them, obviously inheriting her father's talent for dribbling the orange ball.

"She'll be the quite the cheerleader, I see.." He spoke, vaguely watching her small form before turning to Gabriella with a smirk.

She shook her head, smiling as well with him as they continued to view as Juliana chased after her ball as it rolled into a field.

"Not quite, I tried enrolling her into dance though, and she kicked and screamed, begged me not to make her go."

Ryan had stopped, completely diverting his attention from the little girl to stare at Gabriella. His look resembled a look as if she had just relayed someone's death to him.

Wide eyed, and outraged he furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean she kicked and screamed?"

"I mean she wants to play basketball." Gabriella said shrugging her shoulders, before spooning ice cream into her mouth.

Ryan was seething, looking daggers at her as if it were her fault, "It wasn't anything serious Ryan, you know she loves to dance, but basketball…it's in her blood, you know?"

Gabriella spoke, and Ryan knew the far away look that had etched itself neatly onto her olive-toned face. A smile toying in the pink of her lips. Ryan watched her, face turning with feelings and emotions, before it clouded over from that bliss, to a silent suffering.

He feared the day the denial would completely cease. Seems that day was almost the topic of their heart to heart reunion, but her nerves getting the better of her had selflessly plunged her back into pretend world where everything that she wanted was never going to appear to happen for her.

He also feared the day she talked herself into living wholeheartedly in that bullshitting world. When she decided that she was never gonna get the chance to be with him the way she wanted to be.

Unless, Troy got a clue.

It was the single thing he did not understand about the "great" Troy Bolton, he was obtuse to the fact that he had the American dream sitting right in front of him.

Ryan figured he was most likely afraid, from the information that Gabriella had provided, along with certain assumptions and analyzing thoughts. He Didn't know where he wanted to be, what he wanted clearly out of life.

It may seem like everything was alright and fine, but deep inside Ryan considered the over analysis from Gabriella, and concluded that he was conflicted horribly by his heart and feelings.

It was evident where he desired to be…but,

"Maybe he's not sure where he needs to be Gabs." He continued as the thought swam through his brain.

Gabriella tossed her melted dessert into the trashcan they passed before turning to him with a sigh.

"He knows where he needs to be. And that's with his daughter," she stated before biting her lip and continuing, "But that does not necessitate him to be with me, the mother, Ry."

He locked his jaw before folding his arms and facing her with wary eyes.

"But if he loves you then, then he signed that contract whether he knew it or not, honey. And you just to need to do what's best for you and Julie."

"I did what's best for Julie! I'm doing what's best for her now, and I probably will continuing doing this, If it keeps him in her life-"

"Not this way Gabby! Not while it's hurting you badly…I can't see you like this anymore, I'm tired of watching you fall apart and then helping you pick the pieces up."

He finished, watching as her face held a small tint of red and her fuming attitude was shown in the chocolate orbs.

The pain was surfacing once more and as she closed her eyes, willing herself to hold tears back, he pulled her into a hug. Tears leaking salty on his shoulder, he placed his fingers in her curls, stroking, holding his friend as if she was his own child.

Speaking of which he looked over at Juliana who had settled on a park bench, and was watching them curiously, wondering what was wrong with her mother obviously.

He smiled, and pulled a sniffling Gabriella up from his shoulder. "Hey, how about I take Juliana back to San Fran and she stays for a few days? You know give you some time to think…"

Gabriella smiled through her watery demeanor and shook her head following his gaze to her little girl.

"Thanks but I think I'll take a rain check, I want to spend some time with Julie, you know? For some odd reason I feel as if I haven't been around her as much as I should have been these last few days."

Ryan nodded, opening his arms for another hug, in which she obliged wrapping her arms around her friend, in the utmost thanks, and acceptance.

He grinned at Juliana before she practically ran into his arms in which he lifted her to hug and look at him.

"I'm gonna go, Jules, behave for mommy, ok?" He said, and she smiled at him taking his hat and setting it on her head.

"Will you bring me a hat?" She said her eyes lighting up. And Gabriella smiled as Ryan nodded.

"Yes, I will bring you a hat, but you need to stay in check, and practice your jazz squares, promise?" He said and she giggled nodding, before wrapping her arms around his neck one last time.

He kissed her forehead before sitting her on the ground.

"You'll be a great father someday Ry, how is Kelsi?" Gabriella said and she could see his face light up.

"She's great, she's starting to show more, and her eating habits are getting wilder, she's less than thrilled but I'm more than happy," He spoke of his four month pregnant wife.

Gabriella smiled, picturing her friend eating something particularly disgusting.

"Well, tell her I said hi, Ryan, and thanks for everything, really."

He walked backwards talking to her as his feet moved. "No worries Gabs, and that offer still stands about San Fran, don't be afraid to take me up on it!"

Gabriella laughed waving to him as he turned his body and walked off leaving nothing but the near silence of the soft wind blowing a breeze into her body and the birds chirping a song devotedly into her ear as Juliana continued her ball dribbling loyally.

Then her phone went off.

The loud ring tone breaking the rhythm of the Juliana and her basketball. Gabriella pressed her phone to her ear as she watched her daughter laugh as she kept the steady flow of the ball at an expert pace.

"Gabriella Montez?"

"Juliana's improving with her basketball skills I see."

Gabriella froze. Her whole body seeming to be tense with the venom like fury that was spreading rapidly through her limbs at rapid pace.

But there was fear that served as the lace trim to that venom and Gabriella focused her eyes solely on her daughter.

"I presume it's from all the quality time spent with "world's best father" that's making her that way, her right hand is her weapon."

Gabriella breathed inward before spitting, "Harry what the hell are you calling me for? And what the fuck are you talking about?"

"I can see you, but can you see me?" He said in a husky sing-song type voice. Her eyes darted around the garden place before she settled on her daughter whom was dribbling care-free.

With her right hand.

She grabbed the basketball, stilling it's motions before placing it under her arm as she yanked Julie's hand before they started to walk, faster than before.

"What do you want from me, Harry? This is insane." Gabriella said angrily hoping she didn't see the body of the man that held the most hatred from her.

"I want to finish our conversation from the other day," She scoffed as she quickly was reduced to sprints searching for her car, while walking.

"That was not a conversation, and besides I'm busy."

"Busy running Gabby, stop running! I just want to talk, to be friends." He spoke, and then that sincere tone return from all those days ago.

From those years ago. After the storm. After the rage, the sincerity would pour out of him like liquid, like fluid that needed to be drained as the alcohol would cease from the confines of his tongue, and he would apologize constantly and she would forgive him, naivety shining through like armor.

She ceased her walking, closing her eyes for a split second before responding, quietly, "We tried that, Harry, we cannot be friend's."

"Then let me take you and Julie to lunch." He spoke, seeming desperate now, seeming being the key word and she shook her head as if he could see, and if he could see her then she was hoping he would get the hint.

Hope bordering upon prayers as Julie squirmed, her hand moving in Gabriella's.

"Julie be still." Gabriella said as she looked ahead, not once staring down at her daughter as the parking lot being in sight.

"Gabriella why are you doing this? I'm not going to hurt you, I'm different now." He was pleading now, sadness and but determination appearing supposedly.

"You told me that once before, Harry! You and your promises!"

Reminded her of someone else she knew.

"Gabi-"

"Just stop," She spat into the phone, "I don't want you to be with you anymore, Harry. I don't want to be your friend, I don't want to go out to lunch I don't even want to look-"

"At my face?" His deep voice came but not from the phone.

And she realized that she was inches away from her car.

And face to face with him.

She wordlessly lowered her phone from her ear, into her purse. The syllables and letters seemingly to evaporate from her mind.

"Can we just talk, please?"

She watched him as his eyes danced around her bewildered form, raking over Juliana, a small friendly smile playing on his lips seemingly. She bit her lip, rejection wanting to escape her lips, ready to be voiced to him, ready to hurt him like he did all those times.

And then she nodded.

"Fine."

* * *

Troy Bolton had seen many things in his life and many things he did not want to see in his life.

He had even at one point weighed out the different things in life that were in the utmost way, sickening to his eyes, actually.

And as he walked in the restaurant he was currently supposed to be having lunch at, hand in hand with Eliza, sunglasses shielding his eyes, the number one sight on that list was sitting in front of his eyes. He stopped mid walk, unleashing her hand from his almost instantly, her heels clicking to an impatient stop next to him.

"What?"

He reached to his sunglasses, ripping them off. The window showing off the outside of the restaurant and the flashes of camera's, being blinded by the pure rage obscuring his vision at the sight of the people.

He grabbed his girlfriend's hand once more and practically dragged her over to the table where the mother of his child sat, with her abusive ex boyfriend.

With his daughter.

****

A/N: So, um that's not exactly how I planned to end it, but hey don't you wanna know what's going to happen next? Well guess what after the response from the last chapter I have decided to give you a preview…Enjoy, and review!!

__

"You're ripping me apart…shit Troy!"

He continued his steady rhythm, holding her in place as well as himself, while the heat radiating was providing a sheen of sweat to trickle.

"I know, Gabby…oh fuck…I know."

****

Ha, leads much to the imagination, doesn't it?

-Mimi


	8. The Wrong Embrace

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: So, I'm back, semi soon with another update. I'm very proud of myself actually lol. Well, once again the reviews were the shit, lol. They really keep me on my toes with what you guys think of my writing. So, here's the chapter everybody has been waiting to see. **

**Enjoy!**

**BTW: This chapter is entitled after a line in the song "Another Day" From the musical/movie RENT, which is the best ever!!!**

**Disclaimer: Please, the odds of me owning this is like the odds of Mark letting go of his camera.**

Chapter 8

Gabriella felt as if the world was fixated on her.

Because with cyan pools burning a hole through her, that was the world. Nothing was supposed to matter around him or them,

And nothing did.

Fire was spitting from behind the pitch black sunglasses, staining her pure white dress with the stormy emotions. She wanted to look away, to be freed from the fury, but it was as if they held her hostage. As if she was bound in the rampant orbs that only read of one thing,

Pure, emotion, raw, fury.

But to any passerby, or even the leeches that were excitedly snapping pictures, while being rushed from the restaurant windows, it would seem he was perfectly fine.

Dazzling smile set on his white teeth, hand clasped tightly around the fingers of Eliza. It was charming to everyone, especially her, but it leaked of falseness, and she most of all, knew.

The harsh realm of his anger and betrayal was shining like a light to her. And it was directed at her and she couldn't help the fear that leaked throughout her system as his stiffened body yanked his girlfriend over to the direction of the table in a brisk-like manner.

Harry sensed her lack of concentration and followed her gaze to the distraction, where he cast a wicked smile. Speaking in a low tone of voice, "Well, well, well, look what the paparazzi dragged in…" Eliza looked over to her body with a grin that was taunting as ever at the declined stance Gabriella seemed to hold sitting so close to Harry.

It was also the cause of Gabriella burning with anger.

"Daddy!" Juliana squealed practically hopping over the table into his arms, in which he caught her with ease.

"Hey, Puppy! What're you doing here?" He asked kissing her forehead, a genuine smile making it's way onto his very excited face, but Gabriella knew the question was double sided.

She held her head down, the simple fact being she couldn't shield her face like she wanted to, as Juliana smiled a small smile in Harry's direction.

"Mr. Harry taked us to lunch." She said, as if it explained everything, and Troy laughed at his daughter's once again well placed naivety.

He fingered the dark curls, so dark of a brown that it was border lining black, absolutely like her mother's.

"You mean he took you, Julie?" He said, and she nodded, before stealing his sunglasses from his well hidden face.

"I thought you and mommy were going with Uncle Ryan today?" And that was it.

It was the last tick to the bomb Gabriella knew was going at a well-known speed inside of his head.

His cobalt orbs found her own chocolate ones and forced the contact between the two, her head snapping up to meet his as if on cue.

Gabriella stared, finding the fire once again behind the stormy oceanic bubbles that were hidden behind the tan lids.

But she couldn't speak.

She couldn't answer to questioning gaze the eyes were giving her. Third degree from sight, and she sat like a guilty fugitive, submissive to the anger held by his superior stance.

"Gabriella, it is very nice to see you again." Eliza spoke, addressing her and cutting the unanswered silence. Obviously. getting the hint of tension that was spread through the air between her boyfriend and the Hispanic girl. Arms folded in a stance the topped off with a wicked grin only said that she was clearly satisfied at the fact that Gabriella was not an any way connected with Troy on a emotional level from this situation.

If she only knew.

Gabriella grimaced with a raised eyebrow. "How, rude of me, Eliza this is Harry, Harry this is Eliza Whitfield-"

"But I'm sure you knew that." She spoke, with a flash of her own pearly whites, that Gabriella barely suppressed a eye roll at.

She extended her hand to him in which he took standing himself, to shake. "Pleased to make your acquaintance." He spoke, with manners to impress, and another suppression of an eye roll was brought to her attention.

He sat down, and Gabriella briefly felt his arms wrap themselves around her shoulders. Her eyes cut to the offending fingers that were rubbing at her tan skin, and she knew that she wasn't the only one unhappy at the visible sign of affection.

"So, Eliza, Troy, why don't you both join us for lunch?" Harry voiced as if this was a splendid greeting between four friends, and not a tension filled reunion of sorts with four people whom loathed each other.

"We really shouldn't…" Eliza started immediately, perceptively not wishing to spend her lunch with her boyfriend's ex girlfriend, and their daughter.

And it didn't help that Gabriella was on her side about the matter. "I'm sure Troy and Eliza have better things to do, Harry," She cut through right after Eliza.

But Juliana was the one in her father's arms, and once the little girl snatched the sunglasses from her eyes, and an excited, hopeful pout appeared on her face, everyone sitting at the table knew what the verdict was going to be.

"Yes, stay, Daddy! Please stay and eat with Mr. Harry and Mommy, and me…and Ms. Eliza can stay too, I guess...but, please stay!" Those deep blue eyes doe like and almost watery as she mirrored her father's famous intense gaze.

"We can't impose." Eliza tried, as if she could win him over from his daughter and though Gabriella was on her side for the matter she couldn't help the snicker that escaped from her flushed pink lips at the futile attempt.

"Daddy…" She said, softly looking as if she would result to tears if necessary and Gabriella was quite shocked at her daughter's persistence with him staying.

Troy smiled at his little girl, protests ignored.

"I'm staying, pup, calm down." He said softly, and for a millisecond, Gabriella could not find that anger that had laid in his eyes, a few moments before.

But there was unmistakable, severe fire in the green eyes of Eliza, and though Gabriella wasn't too thrilled about them staying, she got up, untangling herself from Harry's grip. A sweet and quite fake smile plastered to her lips.

"Here, Eliza take my chair." And the blonde sat, daggers obviously being sent in full speed towards Gabriella direction.

Troy himself moved for the seat that was in the middle of the two empty chairs he and Gabriella would soon occupy.

But only to place his daughter carefully in that chair, and press a kiss to her forehead. "Um, Eliza go ahead and order," Juliana's eyes looked fearfully at her father, looking as if he was about to leave her.

"Daddy's going to talk to Mommy, we'll be right back…"

Damn.

She didn't even have to look up from her fingers to know what the deal was. That raging fire was back in action. Right smack dead behind his mask of blue calmness, reserved for his daughter.

She smiled apologetically, as if it mattered, and stood to follow the very pissed father of her daughter. She vaguely noticed the fact that she was entrusting her daughters care unto the two people in the world she had labeled "enemy".

That was trivial to the worry that flooded through her when Troy's hand snatched hers quite tighter than she expected, the unmasked anger she had been knowing and waiting for him to unveil, appearing.

"Duck your head." He ordered, and without questioning, she did.

She shielded her face from any trace of flash or clicks from the glass window that had filled up with the leeches when Troy came into sight.

He smiled upward, waving the guys and girls off, whom were still incessant on getting a shot of the mysterious "mother of Juliana" they deemed her.

"Troy…" She started softly.

"Shut the fuck up, I don't want to hear anything you have to say." He growled, and her mouth shut closed, tightly. And she was about to keep it that way until she got angry, as usual, and quite aggressive. Hand squeezing his own in return from the searing pain he had caused her.

"They're gonna ask questions, anyway…"

"I do not give a fuck. I have kept your identity unknown for four years, and I plan on keeping it that way, so do what I say, and shut the fuck up." He spat, more pissed than she expected him to be.

He yanked her quite hard along the restaurant and she could feel her patience with him slipping quickly. Another second and she knew she was going to blow a gasket.

He was pulling her along like she was a child that he was taking to the back to punish away from everyone's eyesight, and in a way, she was. Two sided emotions were flooding through Gabriella's veins. She wanted to be angry at the way he was treating her. As if she couldn't hold her own, as if she was a young child, naïve in its ways.

But excitement was also running through her veins at the simple fact of him touching her.

And she started to feel guilty, for the unpretentious reason that she had disobeyed his precise orders, but his fingers pressing too hard on her skin was making her anger return and override her previous feelings.

The thought scrolled past her mind like lines on a book,

_Who the hell was he to tell her whom she could not be around and whom her daughter could not be around?_

Oh yeah, a father.

But their was a limit. She knew because she had been toying with herself for that same limit as a faithful mother.

Love goes so far.

But she would not voice that opinion. She would let him be angry, for the right reason. She had gone against his wishes.

They turned a corner and she was cut loose from his death of a grip.

"I don't know what your problem is, Troy." She spoke shortly, not thinking, better yet triggering the wrath that she was practically envisioning.

But she didn't have to envision too long.

"You don't know what my fucking problem is? So what, you're stupid now?" He ranted, pacing in front of her, smoke practically spilling from his ears as he spoke.

"Or did you just forget the promise you made me?" He spoke ferociously, turning to fully face her, herself vaguely noticing the detail that they were locked in a bathroom.

Gabriella folded her arms quite protectively over her chest. "No, Troy." She said quietly.

"Well then you're a goddamned liar, unless you can explain to me how the fuck you ended up with Harry, whom I specifically told you to keep my daughter and yourself away from, when you told me you were with Ryan!" He was unraveling and quick. Strings from his well organized self control slipping rapidly with every profanity of a word.

But so was she. Her own quietness contradicting what she was on the borderline of saying.

"I don't know Troy, he followed us and offered to take us to lunch and it j-just happened…"

Troy's expression then turned of one so livid she barely recognized him under the emotion.

"It just happened? Hmm…" He nodded his head before turning and advancing on her swiftly, but strongly.

"What if I just so happened to stick my foot up your ass? Huh? Because things like this don't just happen, Brie! You fucking promised me! You fucking told me that you would not go around this man, that you would not put yourself in that situation, put me in that situation, Fuck!" He spat perceptibly upset most of all, about the fact that she broke one of the few promises he begged her to make to him.

He slammed his hand into the wall after a redefining silence.

"Troy!" She warned, fearful at the force of the fist, it scaring her, bringing her back to reality, back to the irate person she was trying to deal with.

"I'm sorry, okay? For once in my life I am completely and truly in your goddamned debt!" She supplied helplessly, despairingly.

She felt helpless.

She felt guilty, and she was letting her heart take-over. It was refusing to let her head interfere, making her succumb to the anger that Troy was voicing. Making her take it, without protest.

Even though she was toying on the edge of reason.

Her mouth was almost opening, almost raising back at her, rearing up to his level, to his point of feeling.

A knock came. "Are you alright in there miss?" A sweet voice inquired and Gabriella cleared her throat.

"I'm fine, thanks." She placed a calming hand on her forehead, steadying her thoughts.

He sighed, still not calm. "So, what? You're going to go back to him now?" Troy's voice taunted, malice laden in his tone.

"Troy, I told you I'm not going back to him…" She said weakly, but he seemed to be in a pure unconvinced approach.

"You told me a lot of fucking things, Gabriella! A lot of bullshit that I'm supposed to believe after you have betrayed me in this manner..."

Boom.

"STOP! Just fucking, stop!" She screamed, feeling finally defeated but she was tired and very reluctant to let him continue to treat her the way he had been doing.

He was silenced at her tone of voice. Its agonizing plead piercing his ears, threatening to wreck his eardrums.

"I've done nothing but live, and it is as if that's not even enough for you!" She was stabbing him with truthful words of her heart.

"I'm trying to please you and let you go, Troy! I'm trying to be free, but I can't do it because it seems as if that is the thing that displeases you the most!" She was tired, fury echoing from her body.

"Gabriella, he is a danger to you. He will beat you to your death! And you will be gone, from Julie and from me," He was now back, but cutting open his heart and handing it to her on his sleeve. He was now fierce yet, sincere.

"The one thing I refuse to do, is lose you, in any way…" He trailed his cerulean orbs showing fear, and searching desperately for a comforting emotion back into her auburns in return.

"Well then what the fuck do you want me to do?" She spat at him, fiery poison hinting in the in-depth punctuation of her words, "You want me t-to be loyal to you? To devote my body and life to you?" Her words poked, sarcasm and smirk adding to the blatant comment.

"Yes, exactly, Brie, exactly." He spoke as well with an eye roll.

"Stop fucking Eliza, then." She stated pointedly, her jealousy and proven unfairness from the many times his ability to do the things he ordered her not to do, shining like the sun around the seemingly dark walls of the bathroom.

She felt like a child denied of their candy, of what they wanted. And he felt ashamed at his clear horrible and painful influence in her life. He realized his ways, but he refused to care about it. About the wrongness in his actions.

"I can't do that." He spoke through gritted teeth, though his heart was fighting tooth and nail in disagreement with his words.

"Then I have nothing more to say to you." And she walked past him towards the door., not able to dodge the quickness of his hands, though, as he yanked her body back to his, practically dragging her Manolo Blahnik sandals across the cool marble floor of the bathroom.

Her chest ended up flushed and pressed up against the soft fabric of his white t-shirt. "I'm not through talking to you." He said huskily, his hot breath tickling her neck with the words.

"But I'm through talking to you!" She replied, struggling in his grip. But he wouldn't let her go, he wouldn't let her free from his grasp. She was trying to understand, but she couldn't.

His hand was clutching at both of her arms in silent desperation. She twisted and turned in his grip but he refused to let her go. "Let me go, Troy! Just for once let me be!" Her words were sobbed out, in anxiety and pure anguish, tears flooding down her cheeks.

"Please," She whispered, and for a slight second she stilled in his grasp. "I don't have anything to give you, Troy. I've given close to everything…" She cried softly.

And it pained him so greatly to hear the agony in her speaking.

"I can't have, everything, Brie."

"Yes you can!" She snapped. He was being as stubborn as she could possibly imagine.

"You have it now!" She spoke frenziedly, "You have everything anyone could want, but you just can't see it…" She said, in pure and utmost pain and he almost let her go, almost let her leave so he could stop the carious problem he was causing.

Be he could never let her go.

Ever.

He hungrily captured her mouth in electrifying kiss. Tangible waves of emotion shooting up her spine in an electric manner. She responded immediately, plunging her tongue along his the tip of his before eagerly intertwining them.

Hands fumbled in hair, whilst, mouths fused harshly against each other. Troy was drinking everything she was providing him with. And briefly he felt himself pushing forward, before Gabriella's back hit the sink edge, hard.

She was still fighting. Mercilessly refusing to give up the battle with him. Her hands fisted in his white t-shirt pulling at the fabric as he easily lifted her up and placed her on the surface of the sink.

He briefly glanced at his reflection, eyes having darkened to a shade that he didn't even know he possessed, as he quickly pulled away from her mouth to trail austere bites and suckles along the baseline of he neck, nipping at the vein that was bulging many times.

His rough hands didn't seek out his pants, they didn't seek out his relief.

The calloused fingers roughly pushed the soft material of her sundress up her body, wordlessly as his head was yanked up to connect with hers once more.

His hand dived instantly towards the area he just exposed, pulling the tiny piece of underwear down her legs, before the same legs decided their plan to wrap around his jean covered waist, before he plunged his finger inside her tight heat in a second's time.

Her head tilted back slamming against the mirror, and he felt her grip in his hair, become lethal as he started his short steady pumps, in and out of her wetness.

"Oh, fuck, Troy!" She moaned, biting her lip as he worked her body, knowing the exact way she liked, it, but not acting upon those ways.

For the reflection that he was seeing in the mirror was not himself.

It was a stranger.

It was not Troy Bolton. Nevertheless he inserted anther finger with no leniency, stroking at a faster speed as she locked gazes with him, eyes both fighting with slick and precarious sentiments.

He curled his digits, causing her to cry out in pleasure, her hips bucking wildly against his hand as he provided the same satisfying stimulation at a cost.

She knew where this was headed. Though excessively mind-blowing. It would be regretted the morning after in the most severe of ways.

"Troy, oh god, please!" She begged, tears trickling down her cheeks as she realized she needed to put and end to her pain, to her same stimulation.

He shut his orbs, not able to share her gaze for once in his lifetime, and having the most fearful thought that this would be one of many lasts.

"You're ripping me apart…shit Troy!"

He continued his steady rhythm, holding her in place as well as himself, while the heat radiating was providing a sheen of sweat to trickle.

"I know, Gabby…oh fuck…I know." He laid his forehead upon hers, as he added another faithful and hard, long finger, making three as the speed increased, his lips going over hers in an attempt to silence the screams that were growing louder in volume.

She was being set on fire, in both pain and pleasure, and she was finally sent to her peak, white blinding her vision as she was caught in a silent scream.

Pain ripping through her heart, pleasure flowing through her limbs.

Her chest heaved as her tears flowed frequent, now, and she turned her head to the side as, Troy buried his own into her neck.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella."

Was his whispered apology.

But it wasn't enough.

To heal.

The painful passion she felt.

Who knew the love could hurt so badly?

**A/N: Whoa, depressing. Well, I'm tired, read and review, and of course a preview…**

"_Let's take a step forward, what do you say?" _

_She stared at him, her mind wandering back to the past few days and she found refuge and happiness in his welcoming eyes, she even provided a genuine smile._

"_I say, sure." _

**-Mimi**


	9. Salt In My Wounds

_**Can't Help Myself**_

**A/N: Please don't throw anything at me….**

**The month of march really got away from me, Demi Lovato deluxe edition, Twilight DVD, and the worse breakup I have ever suffered from…**

**But that's all behind me! It is now April and I am here to bring you a new and very informational chapter of Can't Help Myself! I am very sorry, and I hope you will forgive me! And a special thanks goes out to my best friend and her boyfriend for being absolutey adorable and letting me use their experiences for the flashbacks, lol. **

**Enjoy!**

**BTW: This chapter is named after a line in Natasha Bedingfield's song, "Not Giving Up" because it basically describes what Gabriella is doing. **

**Disclaimer: Wait let me check, oh, nope, I don't own anything except seven dvd's, eight cd's, and a shitload of magazine's, lol. **

Chapter 9

Someone once said,

_Smoking is an addiction, it is the equivalent as drugs or alcohol, one try and you could be hooked forever._

Gabriella Montez knew for a fact that statement was not entirely true.

For instance she hadn't had a cigarette since she had entered her first year of college. The pressure had gotten to her as you can assume, and she was stressed to the maximum.

Yes, Gabriella Montez had almost cracked under pressure of school work.

She had gone outside, to the fire escape to get some air, and there she had met a friend who introduced her to the substance.

Though slightly wary about it at first, her brain flashing to several after school specials she had so rightfully paid attention to, she accepted the offer and had a nice smoke out there, with her newfound buddy, and her head was cleared to the utmost clarity.

Occasionally, in that first year she had continued to have that same type of encounter, smoking to clear her thoughts, but it never went any farther than that.

It was used as a method to further her experience in learning, ultimately helping her make some of the most important decisions in her educational career. Since the first was the toughest, she used her time not smoking, to get used to the trials of the school, and had disposed of her short obsession with the tobacco by the time the year was finished.

She had gone the next three years of college, without having a cigarette, her self control inexplicably strong, especially with the carrying of her child at the beginning of her third year and so on, and the birth of her at the end of her fourth year.

But now, as she sat at the expensive clean desk, in her quiet office, her head full of worry and loaded thoughts, and decisions that were reaching their deadline, she knew of one thing,

She needed a damn cigarette.

Badly.

It was the perfect moment for her to acquire the substance, the moment in time where her decisions were too important, and too bulky for her to resist.

She tapped her impatient fingers on the glass surface of the desk, legs crossed, securely over one another, taps on the heels of her gold diamond studded Christian Louboutin stilettos poking at her calf muscles.

Her hair was up in a clip, pieces falling like artwork at the sides of her face, as she went through her list of issues internally;

One, Two pieces of artwork in her gallery that someone was offering her a price for that was unbeatable but also slightly lower than needed.

Two, Harry leaving an obscene amount of messages on both her home phone, and cell phone, claiming that he needed to see her, and her fond and unusual desire to actually take him up his offer.

Three, Juliana quite possibly being allergic to peanuts.

Four….

Troy.

He was one decision in itself. Just the name causing her heart to shatter in a million pieces all over again.

What the hell was she supposed to do about him? How was she supposed to deal with him? She needed to.

Time was getting shorter. This unconquerable game starting to take a toll on her. She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep, and she couldn't bear to talk to anyone about what had happened in the bathroom.

That was the final straw for Gabriella. She didn't know it, but it was. She had pulled her underwear up her legs in shame, before leaving the bathroom, in a frenzy. Two words not being spoken between the two, before she snatched Juliana up out of her chair despite her protests, and quietly asked Harry to take her home without a goodbye to neither Eliza or Troy.

Later at home, after Juliana had gone to bed at her same time, Gabriella had sat on her plush couch, and cried her eyes out.

She was truly lost. Hurt beyond physical pain.

Every time she breathed it she felt like she was straining to do so, and she couldn't even bear to try and understand why, though deep down she knew.

Troy had not given her an answer.

He had not replied to her and left Eliza like she wanted, like she needed him to. He had proven to her that he didn't want her. No.

But he needed her, just as much as she needed him, that she was sure of. For the silent but firm clutches he held her in, told her so.

He couldn't bear to let her go, but he wasn't sure about keeping her either.

He was afraid.

Or not afraid,

Scared.

And his fright was causing Gabriella the most undying pain she had ever felt. It was shaking her bones. Making her weak with fury and tired with sadness. She knew that she needed to let him go to make that pain go away.

_You gave him the choice! _

Her mind screamed at her, and that she did.

"_Stop fucking Eliza, then." _

"_I can't do that." _

His words were piercing her ears in memory, burning a hole through her heart, and making it almost impossible to even think about loving him.

But she did.

Despite his claim of helplessness. His determined case that he could not leave his latest bitch, as if he wouldn't anyway. As if he wouldn't get tired of her.

Because he would never get tired of Gabriella.

But Gabriella was getting tired of Troy.

Wasn't she?

She placed her head in her hands, elbows planting in the glass now, legs uncrossing the unwelcome reality hitting her swiftly and leaving. She was still irrevocably in love with him, even though he threw her to the ground several times, and then stomped her with constant vigor.

He was killing her.

But she was dying with a pain that was so pleasurable, that she couldn't give it up.

It was an unhealthy brew of patience mixed with hope for something that was never gonna come to her.

What was she supposed to do?

The feeling of exhaling the smoke and tasting the bitterness of the tobacco seemed like the only answer to these prayers. She harshly pressed the button on her intercom that signaled for her secretary,

"Jennifer?"

"Yes, Gabriella?" The sweet but slightly nervous reply came back from the front desk and Gabriella chuckled at the poor girls intimidation. "I need you to go to the nearest drug store and pick me up a box of Marlboro Lights, okay?"

Silence. Gabriella counted in her head, just waiting on the inevitable question that was sure to empty from the girl's naturally inquisitive mouth.

"But, Gabriella you-"

"Jennifer, don't ask questions, this one time, please…just do it, do you need money?" Gabriella spoke tiredly.

"Um, no, I have ten bucks on me."

"I'll pay you back when you return, thanks Jennifer."

Gabriella released the button before sitting back in her chair, raising her watch to her eyes wondering how long it would take before the girl returned from her little field trip.

Minutes passed by quickly before a knock sounded on her door, and Gabriella sat up ordering for Jennifer to enter.

"Here you go Gabriella."

Gabriella smiled, genuinely towards the girl, before standing to take the tiny square box from her, grabbing her jacket and slinging it over shoulders in an effort to leave.

She reached in her pocket and handed the girl a twenty. "I'm gonna have lunch Jennifer," Gabriella said, snatching her purse, and resting it in the crease of her elbow, before walking out of the office with the girl behind her.

She briefly saw the her take a seat at her desk, before she walked out of the building, taking a few steps briefly before she saw the deli that sat comfortably across the street.

She crossed the street to the questionable restaurant and walked in to be seated perfectly;

Outside.

She sat down in her chair and ordered quickly from the menu, before opening the packet and retrieving a white stick from the order like bunch.

She stared at it and silently pondered the feel of having the familiar tobacco back in her hands again.

Reaching into her purse she retrieved the old fashioned gold flip lighter that she had purchased earlier in her lifetime, that she kept on her at all times.

She placed the stick in between her lips, before bringing the lighter to the tip and whilst shielding the fire from the wind, she lit the cigarette, and took a long drag, her eyes closing in ecstasy at the taste.

She snatched it from her mouth, between her pointer and middle finger, and she exhaled the smoke out of her mouth, as if she had done it all her life.

The waiter brought her an ashtray and a glass of water and she thanked him.

She closed her eyelids, and let the soft anguish of tribulations take over her mind, the decisions that needed to be decided on filled her head quickly and she took another puff of her cigarette the taste easing her thoughts greatly.

Exhaling she let her thoughts trail over her most worried about problem and she leaned back in her chair the cigarette laying lightly in her fingers as she held her hand limply over her arm.

Tears slid weakly down her cheeks at the harshness of the pain that assorted with the thoughts of him, and them.

She could take up Harry's offer, it would mean her ultimate detachment from Troy, it would mean she was trying to move on, and it might just release her from the growing pain he was keeping her bound in.

Two decisions in one, she was mistaken.

The pro's and con's of both relationships laying on her mind heavily.

The different times spent with both men, it was almost if they were complete opposites…Troy's idea of fun completely different from Harry's idea of fun, somewhat.

_She didn't even know how the hell she ended up where she was._

_Anyone would've had common sense to say no to Troy Bolton when he suggests to go camping with him…by himself._

_But, then again all common sense was thrown out of the window when her eyes connected with the azure pupils of that boys that she was so in love with._

_But then again, she wasn't so sure about those feelings as she watched him ahead of her while they traveled, lost from their campsite. _

"_Troy, do you even know where the hell you're going?" She asked, slightly, irritated that they were lost. _

_Seriously?_

"_Of course, babe, stop worrying so much, just enjoy the sun, and let your big strong man here do all the work." He spoke, before turning his head to hers, flashing a big smile. __His white teeth contrasting to her condescending smirk and raised eyebrow._

"_Hmm, big and strong? I'm not so sure about all of that but okay…." She spoke with a chuckle and he poked his tongue out at her before continuing their journey, that seemed to never end._

_Gabriella stared at her nails, as her legs started to get slightly weary from the constant pressure being applied._

_Maybe she was out of shape or something._

"_What's wrong Gabs, getting tired? Ah, I bet you wish you didn't make that crack about this big strong man here, don't you?" He spoke, and Gabriella rolled her eyes with a laugh._

"_Yes, Troy I wish you would just wrap you big strong arms around me and try to carry me!" She spoke with sarcasm but was cut off as Troy turned and swiftly lifted her from the ground tickling her as he walked forward on the trail they had created._

_She was laughing uncontrollably before he sat her back down on the ground, her arms around his neck all the while him still running his fingers mercilessly across her sides, and before they both knew they were crashing towards the earth._

_Rolling and laughing before finally coming to a stop, Gabriella on top of Troy. She sat up, her thighs on either side of him, her pelvis atop of his pelvis._

"_Well, look at that, mother nature does agree with me on being on top…" She spoke vaguely her hands placed expertly on her hips, before her mouth opened in laughter._

"_Hmm, girls always stick together don't they?" He spoke, before she leaned down and pressed her lips to his in a soft motion, smiling at the gentleness of the gesture, as he entered her mouth with his tongue, softly stroking hers with his own, running his hands down her back settling on her waist and rubbing softly there._

"_We do, But I'm pretty sure even god agrees that the girl being on top is more enjoyable for the male species." _

_Troy closed his eyes, laughing at his girlfriend's oh so expertly made point, "Um, I don't know Gabs he's god…he might not take your side on such a matter after you have insulted one of his beautiful creations..."_

"_Wow, creation? Don't you mean mistake?" She said, and he ran his fingers across her sides once more before she halted his fingers, in advance. _

"_Okay, okay! How about this, I'll prove to you about the position thing, and if I'm right then, you'll let me find our way back to the campsite, okay?" _

_Troy placed his finger on his chin, as if thinking about it. "Okay, but if I find your fact is proven incorrect then I will once again take over as the big strong man-"_

_But his words were silenced as Gabriella started to grind her pelvis against his in a gentle but coarse manner, and he instantly felt himself stiffen with arousal._

"_What was that? Big strong man?" She taunted, her hands taking place at his chest as she felt him, very excited indeed._

"_I don't see how this enjoyable for the man…" Troy choked out as Gabriella continued the incessant grinding of her hips on his._

"_Hmm, I think someone is disagreeing with you…" Gabriella teased before she bit her lip and changed her tactics…greatly. __And she started to bounce herself atop of him creating friction between the two even through their clothes, even stimulating herself. _

_Troy's eyes opened in slight shock and the feeling that his girlfriend was releasing onto his body was causing him to gasp in pleasure at the feeling, and his eyes roamed to her chest that bounced along with her movements._

_And he now understood, what she meant by enjoyable._

"_Okay, okay! You've proven your case…" He gasped out and she laughed ceasing her movements._

"_So then, I'll be taking over your position, I am now big strong woman, hmm, I like the sound of that." _

_And she made her way off of him but he pulled her back down on top of him, crashing his lips to hers silently._

"_Maybe…but first, you, big strong woman are gonna prove your case again to, the big strong man…without any clothes this time…" _

_And she smiled at him, diving her lips back downward to capture his, in a heated embrace, knowing they probably wouldn't be back from this hike any time soon._

Gabriella grinned at the joyful thought that she actually allowed herself to have, puffing on her cigarette, and blowing the brew of smoke out in a circular fashion.

She dipped her ashes in the ashtray that sat in front of her.

She ran her moisturized fingers through her bangs pushing them behind her ear, vaguely noticing and remembering that she and Troy had constant fun like that experience.

Times that she welcomed in remembrance, for them displaying love and affection, a contrast to the seriousness that she held with Harry in their stint of a relationship. More like a war than a relationship, a true statement but something Gabriella would have never called it.

So she really cherished those memories, where Troy would get comfortable in himself enough to go to his childish side. Playful jokes and sweet compliments resulting from it, her laughter a prime fact in her happiness.

She stared ahead of herself, eyes glazed over with memory, certain moments of sentimental value crossing her mind, adding to the pro side of the long list for Troy.

She took a long drag, swallowing the smoke, it filtering through her nostrils as she closed her eyes in a reminiscent way, a conversation they had fresh inside her mind as if was spoken yesterday.

_They were wrapped in each other, tightly on her couch._

_Her body in between Troy's legs, his arms enclosed around her waist, lips placing soft kisses in the curls of her hair. _

_They were supposed to be watching The Notebook, but it turned out to be The Notebook, watching them. Which was fine by both couples on screen and off screen. A fine resemblance in their love for each other, being the silver lining._

"_Okay, what about this, I have cancer and I only have three months to live…" She trailed off as Troy moved his lips from her hair to the surface of her neck, pressing on the spot he knew she liked. _

"_Troy…Mmm…stop it, are you even listening?" She moaned out with a slight giggle. _

"_Mmm hmm, keep talking," He muttered, though his lips were still evoking feeling deep within her body._

"_So if I was diagnosed with cancer, and I only had three months to live, how would you react?" This was something that she loved to do._

_Ask him hypothetical questions, to see how he'd answer her. But he'd always blown them off, changing the subject or getting around them in some way._

"_Um, I'd kidnap you and we'd make sweet love every second of everyday…" Gabriella grinned at his quick answer, and playfully slapped his arm. _"_That doesn't sound like a such a bad idea, but seriously what would you do?" She said giggling. His movements ceased on her neck and he placed his hands securely over hers._

"_It would kill me…" He said quietly and she felt the sincerity in his words. The silent sadness that was deep inside of them._

_Even though the event she had spoke of was not promised to happen, he was speaking as if it was. _

"_But I would be there, with you, every second of every day until your final breath, even though my life would not be the same without you, I would die because if you're not with me…there's no point in living." _

_The eminent words were spoken, in a hushed whisper, and Gabriella could practically count the tears leaking from her eyes. She stared up at him, and he smiled, moving his lips over hers in a soft way, tasting her tears, salty but sweet to him and he smiled into the embrace. _

"_Next question." He said sighing and going back to burying his face once more into her curls. _

_Gabriella closed her eyes, drying the tears in her own way and opened them again. _

"_Pregnant." _

"_What?" He said halting his movements. She sighed herself, turning her head towards the front, not making any eye contact towards him._

"_Troy if I were pregnant, would you…leave me?" She whispered the last part, afraid of the answer. _

_He grabbed her face in his palms as if bracing her tightly for his answer, which came as quickly as the other, "No I would never leave you, or my child, forever, I'd stay forever…."_

Forever.

He was supposed to stay forever. Never leave. But he did. He walked out of her life as soon as she told him, a year after they had that specific conversation. Gabriella stubbed out her fully smoked cigarette with a vengeance, an angry tear of betrayal and knowledge that he broke the most important promise he'd ever made her.

The one con to his list.

The only thing threatening her from taking him back, that one con. She was almost positive that after him sticking around this long, he wouldn't do it again.

But how could she be so sure?

And she knew he didn't trust himself to stay either.

She gave a grimace as the waiter sat her sandwich down in front of her with warm eyes. Snatching her knife she harshly cut into her food, before stabbing into it with her fork, pissed and sad as the memory flew back into her thoughts.

"_What?" _

"_I'm pregnant Troy." Gabriella repeated herself, softly, and slowly, standing in front of him, her fingers shaking with racking tension of her own. _

_There he stood, his body turned towards hers, a bouquet of flowers grasped in his fingers a shocked stare on his face._

"_How long have you known?" He questioned, his tone slightly as shaky as hers. _

"_I found out this morning, turns out I've been pregnant for about two months now." And she noticed how shaky her body truly was at the moment, trembling and anticipating his reaction, his answer. _

_An indefinite tone of silence broke out between the two and Troy could hear his own ragged breathing as well as hers. _

_She felt as if she was gonna burst in sobs, when he started to pace. "Troy? Are you-"_

"_We're in college, you're going to medical school…I can't be a father, I have…..I cannot be a father." He ranted, quickly, stumbling over his words, breaking out in a sweat as he paced fluently now, in front of her eyes. _

_It felt as if someone had stabbed her in her chest. _

_The tear flowed freely down her cheeks at his words and she sat down on the couch feeling as if she might faint…_

_She closed her eyes trying to stop the waterworks from completely delaying her vision, but they were working at their best, and she muttered to herself,_

"_But you promised…" _

"_Gabriella!" He snapped and she could feel pain shoot through her entire body at the tone and force of her name on his lips._

_Never, had she ever heard it sound that way. Fear and anger and sadness joined the pain throughout her body and she could feel the sobs preparing to wrack through her body._

_He ran his fingers through his sandy brown hair at the realization of the tone of his voice and he quickly changed his demeanor and turned to leave._

"_I just…I need to think…I'm sorry, I-I can't do this…" _

_He opened the door, the flowers dropping on the carpet as he slammed it, walking himself out of her life. A deafening crack sounding throughout the room along with her sobs as a thought occurred to her._

_Maybe, he wasn't coming back._

_Ever._

Gabriella wiped the tear from her eye as quickly as it had come, deciding that she was not going to dwell on that said moment in time. That was something she had tried to forget, unsuccessfully, many times, and she could see that this time would be no different.

She finished her food, quickly, taking a glance at her watch and deciding that she had come to her final decisions on her matters at hand.

She would just call the client at hand and use her powerful negotiating skills to demand him to lift the price on her very expensive artwork.

After she made a doctor's appointment for Juliana, even though she knew she was gonna have to practically drag the girl kicking and screaming into the office.

She pull another stick out of her package, lighting it and found herself taking a long drag out of it as soon as the flame ignited.

"Gabriella Montez, smoking?" A voice inquired teasingly, causing her to look up and meet the eyes of the man she had let her thoughts wander to not too long ago.

"Do you read minds, Harry? I was just thinking of you.." She spoke, removing her cigarette from her lips with a friendly smile.

"Mind if I join you?" Harry spoke, running his hand though his slicked back, black locks.

"Um, I was finishing up, but sure, you can sit, and watch me pay the bill." She said, and he chuckled at her humor. He pulled a chair out across from her, and tok a seat. Staring at her through the process.

"Gabriella, I've been really trying to talk with you but you haven't returned my phone calls..."

She felt her chest weaken a little in guilt.

"Well then, let's talk now, think of this as my way of returning your phone call, Harry."

He smiled, his white teeth baring for her to see, and he took her hand in his. "I want to apologize, Gabriella, for every kind of pain I have ever caused you, I was horrible and I treated you as horrible as I felt, but I want you to know that ever since I lost you I have gotten help and treatment…"

She raised her eyebrows, fondly wondering if it was possible for Troy to get help and treatment for his problem too. Was there a rehab for breaking people's hearts?

"I miss you, Gabriella Montez."

She smiled at him, as he pressed his lips to her hand quietly.

"Let's take a step forward, what do you say?"

She stared at him, her mind wandering back to the past few days and she found refuge and happiness in his welcoming eyes, she even provided an even wider genuine smile.

"I say, sure."

A step forward was easy for her, but the question was would this cause her to take a step backwards with Troy?

She thought she would fix two problems in one, but it seemed that she was gonna need more than quiet time to think and cigarettes to come to a conclusion on Troy.

It was time for a long overdue discussion with her mother.

**A/N: So, I hope you liked this chapter, even though I just know there are gonna be some angry people reviewing, lol. **

**But don't worry it will all make sense I promise, also I will be putting some mommy and Julie time in the next chapter since some of you crave it, lol. **

**REVIEW!!!!!**

**-Mimi**


	10. Stop This Train

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: Hello, folks! I'm trying to find enough time in my chaotic life to update my stories quickly but it's becoming very difficult. But I'm back with another chapter, and it's only gonna make you guys hate me even more, but lol, it's for the sake of the story. **

**So the response I got from the last chapter is exactly the one I was expecting, ha. You guys all hate Harry, I know, lol. But it's for Gabriella and Troy's sake, I promise. **

**Anyways, **

**Enjoy!**

**BTW: This chapter is named after John Mayer's "Stop This Train", Because the song is so true in so many ways. **

Chapter 10

There were many times in Troy Bolton's life when he had asked himself the simple question,

What the hell am I doing here?

Moments where he would question whatever spot he was in and the events in question that got him where he was. Where he would wonder how in god's name he had dug himself into whatever hole he had, and contemplate how he was going to dig himself back out.

Sitting at the dinner table at his parent's house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this was one of those times.

He was supposed to be happy.

And even more importantly at this exact moment in time, he was supposed to be eating.

But he was doing neither. His fork was swirling around as absentminded as he, in his uneaten and cold mashed potatoes, while next to him Eliza carried on a meaningless conversation with his mother, an all too believable fake smile sitting comfortably on her face.

Glancing over at his self-absorbed, conceited girlfriend, he really seriously inquired to himself, what was the point of him doing this? Sitting here with this stranger trying to convince his parents that she was the one for him, when he was well aware of the fact that Lucille Bolton as well as Jack, had fallen head over heels in love with Gabriella, just as he had.

It was futile and redundant. But the little pain in the ass voice in his head told him it was necessary, to make Gabriella happy.

That was the one conclusion he had come to. The bulge from the box in his pocket contradicting him, and he was on the edge, arguing back and forth with himself.

He was doing this for her.

He only wished she could see. That he was moving on for her, or trying to at least. Trying to start a new life, trying to find a new love, trying to stop hurting her.

He didn't want her to move on, though. He didn't want her seeing another man. It was just a problem that he knew he needed to work on. It was something about picturing another man's hands around her waist, or tongue in her mouth, or naked body atop of hers that made him sick to his stomach.

Even more so, the thought of a man that beat her consistently, living with her, living with his daughter. Whether he got help or not, he couldn't fathom losing the only love he's ever known.

So, maybe, he thought , the way to keep her in any way he could was to move on to another woman, and maybe she would not make the mistake of moving on with someone completely wrong for her.

_But isn't that what you're doing? _

No. Eliza was not wrong for him, she was perfect for him. A harsh whip of reality to his fairytale vision that he would find his only true love.

She was beautiful, successful….

_But not Gabriella._

That was the point, he kept telling his pesky little voice, she wasn't Gabriella, she was different, she wasn't smart and talented and creative, she was everything but.

_Exactly, dumbass. _

He quickly shook his head, taking a sip of his water, and mentally shutting his brain up, before turning his gaze on his mother, who was following Eliza's conversation with a look that mirrored the girl's.

Fake interest.

Which of course made a genuine smile take over his face, just in time for the climax of whatever seemingly hilarious joke, she was telling.

He zoomed in on the laughter that radiated throughout the table, and chuckled himself taking another sip of his water.

"Wow, Eliza you really do have a wonderful sense of humor." Lucille stated, glancing to Troy who smirked at her.

"I told you Mom, that's just one of the many things that drew me to her." He clarified, and even he recognized the false pretense in his voice.

Lucille stood, starting to gather plates within her reach, and she spoke without moving her gaze from her task, "Troy could you help me with these dishes?"

"Oh, Mrs. Bolton, I can help if-" Eliza started trying to stand, but his mother shut her down before she could even start.

"No, sit honey, we wouldn't want damage that pretty manicure you've gotten, Troy will help me."

Troy snapped his head up, a look of true disdain on his face, "Mom…"

"Troy-Alexander, get up and help me with the dishes." She warned, and as if he was a teenager again he reluctantly rose from his seat grabbing his plate, and Eliza's as an afterthought.

"It's alright, Troy I'm gonna go freshen up anyway, um, where is the bathroom?" She spoke, standing from her seat, her small clutch, tightly held in her hand.

"Jack will show you where the bathroom is honey," Lucille confirmed and Troy followed her lead into the kitchen.

It was silent for a moment. Despite, the gentle sounds of the water running over the dishes, and Troy leaned against the countertop, watching his mother as she placed her hands in the water, the suds from the soap gathering around her fingers.

"What do you think, Mom?" He spoke, cutting through the silence like a knife. And his mother sighed, turning the water off.

She bit her lip before turning to look at him. "It doesn't matter what I think, Troy, you're gonna do whatever you want anyway."

She stated.

Troy smiled at his mother's resigned tone, and he folded his arms across his chest. "But Mom, seriously, what do you think of her?"

His mother started her work of washing the dishes back up, seeming to ignore his request of her opinion.

"You want to know what I think? I think she's faker than a Barbie doll. She false, everything about her is put on for a show, for other people's approval." Lucille clarified tersely.

She turned to look at him from her task, "And I have a good feeling it's only because she's got a bad sense of low self esteem deep down, goodness Troy, I've never seen anybody more self absorbed than that woman, not even Sharpay."

Troy laughed out loud at his mother's bold reality check type summary of what she'd gathered about his girlfriend from their conversation. And at the sound of his bubbling laughter, Lucille couldn't help but join in herself.

After a moment, their laughter subdued and he was left staring at her, before he diverted his sight to his fingers. "I'm gonna ask her to marry me tonight Mom, I want to marry her."

She looked at him wildly. "I doubt that, son." She said calmly, turning back to her job. Troy took a plate from her to dry.

"I've got to Mom, it's the only way I'll let Gabriella out." He muttered, staring at the designs of the glass dish. His mother took it from him to set in the drainer before she placed her wet hands on her hips.

"Troy, this is not some trap that you've gotten Gabriella stuck in, now I won't disagree that the circumstances that you two are in, you've both got yourself to blame for, but you cannot commit to marry someone you do not love-"

"But I can't keep living like this, I can't keep sleeping around and coming back to Gabriella only to break her heart again." He argued taking a towel to wipe his hands after he had finished.

"This is the way to fix it, Mom. I've got to move on from Gabriella, in order to stop hurting her, in order to create a stable life for Julie."

Lucille sighed. Her son was as stubborn as his father.

"Troy have you ever considered that maybe you were causing her more pain, by moving on?" She stated, stepping towards him to look him in the eye.

"Mom-"

"Listen to me son, I have watched you and Gabriella dance around the fact that you both will never find anyone else like the other, for years." She took his hands in hers. "You're convinced that because you hurt her that one time, that you might do it again, but son I'm telling you, I have faith that you won't, she's forgiven you Troy, you just need to forgive yourself."

He sighed taking his hands away from his mother's grip, before taking a seat at the table. Her words sounded so right in his head. She had always been the reason in his life and that was what she was being right now, at this most difficult time, in this most difficult decision.

"I really think Eliza and I are good for each other…" He said, not even trying to convince his mother anymore, staring at his intertwined hands.

"Then go ahead son, if you're are sure that you're ready to make this kind of commitment, then do it." She snapped, he could tell his mother was getting short with him, determined to think that she was right about the situation.

In which, she was.

"I love her Mom!" He voiced, his tone louder than most would speak in form to their mother.

"Enough to spend the rest of your life with her?" She raised her own voice back at him, and he stood from the table, the chair making a noise as he bumped it backwards.

"You will sit down right now, Troy-Alexander!" She admonished, pointing her finger dead in his chest.

And he sat, with an acquiescent sigh. Placing his head in his hands.

"I refuse to watch you make the biggest mistake you could possibly ever make in your life," She spoke gently, her hand in his hair, stroking the brown locks softly.

"I'm not Mom, I think she's my last chance, I mean I know I'll never love anyone like I love Gabriella, but I can't go back to her, not after the pain I've inflicted, because I might lose her forever if I hurt her anymore, and I just can't risk that."

She closed her eyes, aware of how blind her son was, and only knowing that as a mother she was required to step back and let him figure out his problems on his own, and let him fix them.

Even if it meant letting him make the biggest mistake of his life.

"Then fine, son…you have my blessing, I just wish you could see…" She finished and he stood to hug her, kissing her on the cheek.

"I'm making the right decision, Mom, I promise." He spoke, trying to convince her one last time.

Trying to convince himself, one last time.

* * *

"Okay, now you two both no the rules, no cheating."

"Yes, Abuela, we do."

Carmen Montez stood in her large backyard, a black and white checkered flag gripped in one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other, as her granddaughter stood on one of side of her and her daughter stood on the other.

Further ahead of them, there was a red ribbon sitting quite comfortably on the green grass, straight as can be, waiting to be crossed.

The finish line, is what you call it. And ahead of that, a self made obstacle course, set up by herself.

Two sets of tires lined up, in doubles, a net held up by posts in order to climb under, and of course two empty potato sacks, ready to be hopped into.

It was something the three girls, tended to do when together. Their idea of fun. Good family competition, and Juliana had a so called rivalry against her own mother, the four year old being the two time champ of the "Montez Obstacle Challenge".

"That means no trying to trip, push, or sabotage your partner in any way, comprenda?" She voiced sternly, and Julie nodded at her grandmother.

"Si, Abuela, Momma do you comprenda?" she turned to her mother, whose pink baseball cap hung a little low over her eyes, long brunette locks held in two pigtails, exactly identical to her daughters attire.

"I do, Chica, now come Momma, get on with it!" She spoke impatiently to her mother, whom smiled at her daughter's childish antics.

"Paciencia, Alejandra…"

Gabriella poked out her tongue at her mother's usage of her middle name. Juliana laughed at her mother's behavior but not before pointing her finger.

"Poking your tongue out is bad manners, Mommy." And she laughed, grinning at her daughter's comment.

"Correct, my wonderful granddaughter, now punish your mother by defeating her yet again in the race." Carmen spoke to her granddaughter, earning a high five and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Of, course!" Juliana agreed.

"You wish, your going down Chica!" She countered as she took her position to run, and Juliana followed suit shaking her head "menacingly" at her mother.

"On your mark, get ready, vaya girls!"

They took off, Gabriella ahead of her daughter, supposedly at first, both of them moving quite quickly across the tires, Carmen cheering them on from the side, as Gabriella dashed under the net.

"Come on, vayamos Girls!" Carmen squealed from the sidelines, sipping her drink and laughing wholeheartedly.

But Juliana was quick behind her, four year olds having the energy to last a lifetime, and Gabriella smiled at her daughters determination, as they came out from under the net, herself "somehow" falling behind on Juliana's speed, and only making it to her sack to hop three steps before her daughter was across the finish line.

"And Juliana claims the victory over the 'Montez Obstacle Challenge'!" Carmen announced as Gabriella ran over to her daughter lifting her up in her arms, as she pumped her fist in the air, truly exuberant over her win.

"Good, job baby!" Gabriella praised her as she rested her on her hip, before heading over towards the patio.

She took a seat, Juliana comfortable in her lap. "I'm sorry you lost, Momma but you were a great opponet…" She comforted patting her mother's shoulder and she laughed.

"I think you mean, opponent, Julie." The little girl laughed nodding her head.

"Well then if that's the case I think you were a great opponet too." She replied, and Juliana wrapped her arms around her mother's neck squeezing to hug her.

With a kiss on her forehead, she felt her daughter loosen her grip on her mother, to slide off of her lap to land on the ground.

"Abuela, can I go play on the swings?" She questioned, and the older woman smiled at her granddaughter, as she took a seat across from Gabriella.

"Ay, what do you say Ana?" She questioned, using her nickname, that she christened her with from birth.

"Um," She looked at her mother for support, and her mother leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Por favor?" She said innocently, and Carmen laughed. "Yes, you may, but not without giving Abuela her kisses." And Juliana went over, kissing her grandmother on her cheek, before running off towards the swing set that was planted in sight in the large backyard.

Gabriella stared off at the form of her eager daughter, watching as she enjoyed herself, enjoyed her freedom, and the fresh air.

"She getting very intelligent, Gabi, a lot like you, learning her Spanish like a pro." She voiced, staring at her daughter's far off facial point.

She turned to look at her mother, a smile on her features. "Yeah, she's a fast learner, but she's more interested in sports…basketball really."

"Ay dios mio, well…at least she won't be that short when she tries out, or let's hope not." She commented, earning a laugh from Gabriella and herself. When the chuckles subsided, Gabriella was cast back into the look, the deep thought process. And Carmen knew, she for one being most fond of that stare.

"Talk to me, miel." She spoke softly reaching to place her hand atop of her daughter's. Gabriella averted her eyes to the table where their now joined hands sat and sighed.

"Gabriella I am well aware of the fact that spending time with your aging mother was not the only reason you came to visit me." Carmen stated, and Gabriella gave a small smile.

She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms knowingly across her chest. "I feel that this has more to do with a certain ocean eyed boy, tell me if I'm right, Gabi."

She looked into her mother's brown eyes, exactly identical to her own and she fiddled with her fingers.

"You right, Mama."

"I always am." Carmen stated matter-of-factly and Gabriella placed her head in her hands, sighing into her palms.

"I just don't know what to do anymore, I want to move on, from him, from this unstable relationship we hold, but I can't because every time, I try, he seems to waltz back into my life telling me I can't."

"A Montez never let's a man tell her what she can or can't do, Chica." Carmen, scolded halfheartedly.

"But that's just it Mom, it's like some sick sense of understanding, he doesn't have to tell me, I make that decision for myself…I just can't imagine being with someone else when I'm around him, but then the thought of being with him, is frightening…it's a risk." She vented.

"Sometimes you have to take risks to be happy, you cannot always play it safe, especially when you're talking about love, daughter of mine."

"I know but-"

"Well if you know, then why are you going around in circles, Alejandra?" Carmen snapped at her daughter, whom looked up at her mother's frustrated tone.

"Because I love him, but I can't be with him! He made it clear that he doesn't want me, or at least that he doesn't want to try…so I'm lost. I'm just in circles." Gabriella stated, tiredly, taking her cap from her head, causing her bangs to fall into her eyes.

"You're not lost, honey, you just haven't allowed yourself to move on. You cannot wait for Troy any longer, even if he's your true love. He's confused, but that's no reason for you to be as well. Juliana loves her daddy, and they have a bond, and that's all that matters." She clarified knowingly.

"When you guys were in high school, I knew that you were sure that you wanted him for the rest of your life, and you guys followed each other to college, and then that faithful day when you called me and told me that you were giving me a granddaughter by him, I knew then as well. However for once I was wrong about something." Carmen informed her daughter.

"I did not think that you two would choose to embrace your lack of common sense then, and seperate from each other in the time that you needed to stay together the most. And even though you two still choose, to embrace that same stupidity, I know that if you just work through this Gabi, you will realize what you need to do."

"So, how do I do that?" Gabriella questioned, and her mother smiled at her.

"You take baby steps, if away from each other, then okay, but you take steps regardless, and you try to live your lives as normal as you can, mija, and maybe the solution that you've been stressing yourself to find will be closer than you think." She stated with a smile, and Gabriella shared that same grin.

"Thanks, wise Madre of mine."

"Ay, That's what a mother is here for, Ella, you shall see." She said standing to hug her daughter, before they entered the house, Juliana in tow, and Gabriella's list of problems, a little bit lighter.

* * *

"Troy?"

He rolled over and sat up in his comfortable bed, hair disheveled and slightly disoriented at the lateness of the phone call he was receiving.

"Gabriella?" He questioned scratching at a particular spot in his mess of brown hair, and he stood from his mattress careful not to wake Eliza from her slumber.

"Yeah, hey…um, I'm sorry to wake you, but I just needed to talk to you as soon as I could and I couldn't wait."

Troy walked over to his window, leading out towards his balcony. He hadn't spoken to the mother of his child the entire week he had returned from his visit to New Mexico.

"Yeah, it's fine, Gabi, just-uh, what's wrong?" He asked, and he could hear her slight hesitation over the phone line.

"I just…I love you Troy." She stated, seriously and he felt his breathing quicken at the bluntness of her statement of affection.

"And, Harry and I have been seeing each other, and I know you don't like him, but he's really changed Troy, I like the new him a lot, and I know you and Eliza are getting really serious, and well…this thing that we have Troy…it's time for it to stop." She finished, quietly with a sigh.

And he nodded as if she was in front of him, aware of the hurt that he felt in his chest, but knowing that this pain was only there to help this get better for her.

It was all for her.

"Are you still there, Wildcat?"

And he wasn't sure what he felt, but it was some odd sensation from the softness of her voice and the syllables of the nickname that she had prolonged calling him for so long, before he knew he had hung up the phone and ended up in his car driving at an unstoppable speed, on the familiar trail to her house.

And as he dashed up the pathway to her door and wasn't surprised that she opened it before he could even raise his hand to knock.

And all was still for a moment.

Before he had his mouth on hers, kissing and venting his feelings one last time, mingling his tongue with hers the way she liked it, as the door was closed and he pushed her into the house, clothes being torn off in the process of making it to her bedroom.

And they fell to the bed softly, his hands caressing, fingertips trailing on every inch of the surface of her body.

His lips leaving soft lingering kisses anywhere he could, showering her soft skin with the love and adoration he felt for her, as she started her task of freeing him from the last of his undergarments.

And as he spread her, he stared into her eyes, seeing the last thread of the line they had crossed so many times, lingering there, waiting on him to snap it, and rid her of it. And so then he sheath himself inside of her. Filling her all the way up to the hilt, and pressing his lips to hers as she wrapped her legs around his waist to hold him there.

He was motionless, savoring the feeling, placing it in his mind for future reference, something to dwell on, something to…make it seem easier.

She wrapped her arms around his neck holding him to her, as he slowly started to move himself, creating a true gentle stroking speed that she had almost forgotten about.

He was making sweet love to her.

For the last time, just like the first time.

And she felt the water pool around her eyelids, as he continued to create the sweetest friction she'd ever know, inside of her body. The heat, and slick movement of his body making her cry out with pleasure, as he worshipped her, with each thrust of pressure.

She wanted to stay like this forever, so she'd never have to face the harsh reality and let him go.

And he brought his speed up, a deafening force added to his strokes of passion. She gasped, and moaned and groaned along with his voiced signs of appreciation. He placed one of his hands on her thighs, using it as a leverage as he pressed his lips against hers heatedly for a searing kiss, letting his tongue divulge in her mouth, saving the sweet taste of her lips on his.

And she could feel her friction level increasing, to a point, in which he himself sensed it as well, speeding his thrusts up just a little more, making her moan loudly with approval.

And he stayed there, hitting her exactly where she wanted, exactly where she needed, hard, as the sweat beads rolled down his back and he felt his sanity threatening to brink, his pulse beating fast with every moment passing by.

The clock seemed to sound louder, by the second and he buried his face into her neck as he heard her get louder, while he drive himself into her more forcible and she fell over the edge with a noise that was beautifully bittersweet.

A cross between a tortured sob, and a passionate moan.

Naturally, becoming his undoing and he spilled himself into her uncontrollably with a hard force.

"Gabriella…I love you, I love you…" And as only a tortured soul could, Troy continued that merciless chant, of his whispered 'I love you's', late from every moment that he had the chance and didn't say it.

He just kept repeating it, as if some type of mantra, and she listened with every fiber of hearing she could, cradling him with both her arms and her legs, while he kissed her neck and shoulder and any piece of skin he could, wanting to taste her,

One last time.

And as the whispers grew silent, Gabriella could have sworn she felt the salty burn of teardrops graze her neck as his breathing became labored and he laid his head on her...defeated,

One last time.

**A/N: Ok, so I didn't know I was gonna end it like that, lol. But is it just me or did that go from really happy to really depressing, very quickly? Oh, well…**

**Review, peeps!**

**-Mimi**


	11. Eyes On The Horizon

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: I know, right? I'm updating quicker than I usually do, lol. But **_**rachrep's **_**review kinda just inspired me to write you guys another chapter and plunge you further into the hole Troy and Gabriella have dug themselves into**_**, **_**lol.**

**But not just because her response but everyone's response was perfect. Thanks so much for all the kind words to me and the not so kind words of anger at the characters, lol. It means a lot to me when I know that I have faithful reviewers who take time to leave their input on the story and what they think should happen.**

**Now, this chapter is really no better than the last two, you're all gonna wanna shoot me dead after this but, lol. I promise it's gonna benefit Gabriella later on, I promise, even though I cringe as I write this chapter it's all for the best. **

**BTW: This chapter is named after a line in a song called "Breathe" from a musical called "In The Heights", it's a really pretty song, lol. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, that movie would have rated way differently…**

Chapter 11

Had it really been two months?

Gabriella's mind wandered, as she stood in the doorframe of her bedroom watching her boyfriend's back muscle's twitch as he shifted various items of her living room around.

She'd really not been counting, but wow…it had been that short of a time?

It almost felt like two years. A painful two years, of reconstruction and materialization of happiness, almost as if she'd been reinventing herself.

She had never changed, but she needed to.

There was still a part of her that carried a weak piece and she needed to knock that speck of futility out of her.

So, she enforced change.

In the first month or year, she frequently went on dates with Harry, listening to his stories of finding himself, and working on his temper, trying to get the image of that blue eyed man and his silent whispers out of her mind.

And she found that she enjoyed herself, with Harry.

She started seeing more of him, more spontaneous visits to work and quick kisses between breaks.

She started finding things like love letters in her office drawers expressing his desire for her, but his intent on giving her the space she needed, so that she could let the past be the past and really start a new relationship with him.

Things like that, snapping the blue eyes from her mindset and replacing them, with green.

They went out on a date at the end of that month, and with a long goodbye kiss she allowed him, to come in to her house, Julie with Troy for the weekend. They made love. And it was very satisfying for her, yet she knew that the hole that she felt in her chest was from the fact that no one was ever gonna fill her like Troy.

But, she had enjoyed it, and she asked him a week later to move in with her.

So her she sat and the end of another month, happiness radiating from the walls of the small home, as she declared that morning when she woke next to him that it was a time for change.

And he laughed wholeheartedly, and told her he could gladly help her with that.

Shirtless.

So, she could only let her mind wander as his shirtless body worked on rearranging her living room to her liking.

And she was only getting used to the sight of the father of her child.

When she would drop Juliana off, he would smile at her, it always reaching his eyes when he saw her form, and she figured he was happy, then.

It would have absolutely killed her if he wasn't, but she figured that if he was that bright when he greeted her then Eliza must have been providing some type of joy from her living with him.

He would talk to her about what's going on in their lives and ask her about her relationship with Harry, and it was almost as if he was trying to make his soul accept the change, and restore the friendship they once had before their hearts got involved.

She couldn't help but say she was trying to do the same.

And so sometimes, she would have coffee with him, under the radar and they would talk quietly about Juliana and plans for the basketball season, and even sometimes laugh and joke with each other as if friends once more.

Gabriella was intent on seeing him happy and he the same with her, even if it broke their hearts to see it with another person.

She folded her arms across her chest as he cracked his knuckles standing from his position and smiling at the sight of her.

"Like what you see?" He joked coming over to her, to wrap his arms around her waist. She instinctively placed her arms around his neck and smiled.

"If you mean the living room, yes I love it…" She teased and he feigned hurt before pouting his lips at her in which she placed a quick kiss on them, before he lifted her body effortlessly, bridal style before carrying her into their bedroom.

"That was so harsh, babe, I might need to heal from that low blow, after I've placed my hard work at your will working to make you happy, and the least you can do is compliment my body I mean…"

"Oh, quit your whining, I appreciate the sexiness of your muscles, and thanks for my living room, you really didn't have to, you know do that." She spoke laughing as he set her on the bed, while he dug around for a shirt to wear.

"Well, you said something about it this morning and so I thought it would be a nice thing for me to do for you, later on, and well…I was bored."

She placed her hand on her chest, she now being the one feigning hurt. He turned around as the shirt slipped over his body.

"You mean you didn't do it to make me happy?" She said gasping. He grinned standing in front of her sitting position to lean down.

"I'd do anything to make you happy." Harry said huskily and he pressed his lips to hers heatedly moving them soundly and slipping his tongue in to mingle with hers for a moment.

Her hands held his face as the embrace grew intense, his tongue intertwining with hers fervently, as her hands pulled his shirt from his body. He gently nudged her body backwards, before lowering himself on top of her as their kisses transpired to her neck where he left a trail, before unbuttoning her shirt after each sweet kiss.

"You ready to show your appreciation?" He whispered, and she whimpered in response, quite aroused at his words, and tilting her head back as his tongue darted out to lick at the spots on her neck he was creating.

The shirt slipped from her body, and as soon as it touched the floor, her cell phone went off.

"Don't answer it, please." He begged, his pleading voice muffled by the positioning of his tongue on hers and she whimpered into his mouth as his hands roamed at their own pace over her body.

"Damn it, I have to it…might be important, babe-stop." She pushed him off of her, with great reluctance, unable to deny her arousal, but feeling him release his weight from her so that she was able to retrieve her phone.

She blew a kiss at his pouting face, before answering the phone. "Hello? Hi, Jen…" She waltzed over to his sitting figure, standing between his legs as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Yeah that's fine…" She trailed as the girl rattled on about plans for the fancy party they were throwing at the gallery that evening. Part of Gabriella's revealing of her new works, which made it full of investors that came to look at her work and possibly offer her loads of money for them.

But her head was reeling as she felt her bra snap quite smoothly from it's position held together on her chest.

She threw her head back, as warm lips surfaced on her left mound of flesh, teeth grazing and suckling on her nipple causing a moan to ripple through her lips quietly.

"Yes…um t-thank you, J-Jennifer…I'll see you tonight, bye." She snapped the phone shut, and tossed it on the cushion of the bed causing her bra to slide away from her chest completely.

Her arms went around his neck, and she lifted her knees to straddle his jean covered pelvis as he continued his task of devouring her flesh.

"How many hours do we get?" She asked breathlessly as he hiked her convenient skirt up her legs.

"How ever many until I feel I've satisfied, you." He whispered huskily, as her hands made work of his belt.

"Well, then you better get a head start, because you know it takes a lot to satisfy me, I'm a picky person…" She declared with a smirk and he captured her lips hungrily silencing her words, with a smile.

* * *

Having satisfied her insatiable hunger for Harry, and picked up Juliana from school, it was time for the party, and time for Juliana to head over to her dad's which was where Gabriella and Harry were dropping her off for the night.

And Gabriella sat on her bed, her silky, and quite short navy blue dress hugging her curves sexily, as she pushed her diamond studs in her ears, quite dolled for the evening.

And it was no surprise that a pair of five thousand dollar silver Christian Louboutin sandals were strapped to her feet to complete the outfit, purchased not by her but given to her.

As a gift.

And she smiled at the fact that that one thing had not changed. She still had two connections to him and it gave quiet joy on the inside to know so.

She stood fluffing her curls as Harry exited the bathroom, an all black suit showing off his broad shoulder quite handsomely.

"You clean up well, my handsome lover." She spoke turning to him smiling and she held her arms out.

"What do you think?" She asked, doing a three-sixty for him to survey. He raised an eyebrow a thin line set on his lips.

"It's quite short…" He spoke thoughtfully and she placed her hands on her hips, her eyes wide with skepticism.

"And quite revealing, as a matter of fact are you sure that's appropriate for this occasion?" He questioned seriously and she scoffed.

"It's my occasion, so I'm quite sure it's appropriate, I guess that's your subtle way of saying how much you don't like it huh?" She countered, offended by his rude comments, turning to face the mirror, to survey if she really looked as whorish as he made her feel.

He sighed, wrapping his arms around her middle from behind. "Baby, I'm sorry, I'm just worried about all the men staring at those gorgeous legs…I only want them for myself, you know?"

She smiled, turning in his arms. "They are only for you, and plus I only have eyes for you, so you don't have to worry about those men…I promise."

She pressed a sweet kiss to his lips before she felt a pair of hands tugging on her dress. "Momma! Come on, I'm ready to go see Daddy! He promised that he'd help me finish learning my numbers in Spanish…" She started rambling pulling her mother quite forcibly by the hand, earning a laugh from both Harry and Gabriella.

* * *

Gabriella knocked on the white front door, Juliana fidgeting in her mother's hand. The door opened to reveal Troy, shirtless of course, looking his most laziness obviously having been relaxing by himself.

He smiled at her briefly, and she did not miss his eyes scanning down her figure appreciatively, as Juliana hopped in his arms quickly.

"Daddy!"

He squeezed her to his chest and Gabriella smiled at their interaction. "Hey, Puppy!" He exclaimed excitedly before setting her down.

"Daddy, I've got so much to tell you!" She informed him, and he nodded. "Ok, but first why don't you get changed and get all settled on the couch until Daddy get's through talking to Mommy?"

The little girl nodded, reaching up to giving her mom a kiss goodbye before rushing off with her backpack strapped securely to her back.

"The Gallery tonight, huh?" He asked scratching his neck awkwardly, and Gabriella couldn't help the smile that settled over her features.

"Yeah, I'm hosting this big revealing of the new stuff I've been working on, nothing too big though." She told him.

"You look gorgeous, Brie." He spoke softly, glancing down at her shoes and grinning.

"And, you're wearing my shoes, which look incredibly hot on you just like I knew they would when I bought them." He offered and she smirked at his comment.

"Why thanks, I appreciate that, Troy." She replied hearing the familiar honk of the Land Rover, urging the ending of her friendly conversation.

"Guess the old man's getting impatient, obviously not liking us talking that much, so I'm gonna see you later Gabi." He said laughing glancing at the car, holding the man glaring quite angrily at them interacting with one another.

She nodded, going to hug him, in which he obliged. "Thanks again Troy, I'll talk to you tomorrow." She assured, before she scurried down the steps and quite quickly down the pathway into the SUV.

Troy watched her go, and felt his gut wrench uncomfortably at the way her companion sped off in his car.

He shook his head, mustering a smile and ignoring the indifferent feeling he felt deep in his body.

* * *

"Ms. Montez, these patenting are lovely."

The umpteenth compliment emptied from the umpteenth investor and Gabriella had finally started to find herself grow tired of the dire but sweet input from the different people that had gathered to support her.

Harry seemed restless, distant, ever since dropping Juliana off and she wondered just what had about her talking to Troy had gotten under his skin so bad. He'd been relatively cold to her half the night, swigging long sips of champagne and loosening his tie with each throwback of a glass.

And as she smiled at Jonathan Gill, a very sweet investor that loved to flirt with her before buying her works, he was tossing back the last drop of his tenth glass, and she was starting to grow very irritated.

"Why thanks, Jon, I've been really nervous about them, they've been a bit on the sad side lately…" She spoke glancing at her boyfriend, who looked as if he could scoff at any moment, and she was aware of him choking back the desire to.

"Really? I couldn't notice, though there is something attracting about a work that holds somewhat of a painful art to it, I find them very interesting, I'll be writing a very nice check to you before the evening is over." He spoke his hand taking hers, and placing a nice soft kiss towards it, before waltzing off.

She smiled gently at his retreating figure, before turning to her date, who, as she predicted rolled his eyes.

"If your dress was any shorter I reckon he would have offered to buy the damn gallery and perhaps you for the evening…" He spoke, leaving her side to grab another glass of champagne.

She followed him, her hands held on her hips, before she faced him. "What the hell is your problem, Harry? You've been really acting like an ass to me and I am not sure what I did to you," She declared lowly, and he scoffed at averting his eyes from her angry stare.

She reached her hand up and grabbed his chin, pulling him to face her again. "Excuse me? I think you've had one too many drinks for this evening." She spoke and she went to grab his drink, but he caught her wrist and yanked her up to face him.

"I think I can decided that for myself, now I suggest you stop talking to me like you are before I cause a real big scene…" He told her lowly and she stared wide eyed at him, his deathlike grip tightening on her wrist.

"Now, why don't you be a good little whore, and go flirt with someone else tonight in your skimpy ass little dress, like you've done most of the night." He finished and she started struggling in his grip.

"You better stop moving so much…." He said through gritted teeth, and she finally succeeded in snatching her wrist away from his grip, and throwing the glass of champagne in his face.

"Fuck you, Harry!" She spat, before she stalked off her shoes clicking against the floor, as she looked at her bare arm, seeing the fingerprints grow on her tan skin.

She didn't know what had gotten into him, but she knew it was not destined to end well.

Jennifer met her around the corner smiling, until seeing the upset state her boss was in.

"Gabriella, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Jennifer, I'm fine, just um, if the investors want to make a check you accept it and give it to me on Monday okay?" She spoke, and she could feel her voice trembling as she practically sprinted to her office, the girl rushing to meet up with her.

"You're leaving?" She spoke, nervously.

"Something's come up…" Gabriella muttered unconvincingly. As she opened the door and grabbed her purse and jacket before, passing the girl with nothing more to say.

She looked around the crowded showroom, before smiling at people, nervously and pushing through the people, looking over her shoulder before colliding hard into someone.

"There you are, I'm glad you got you're stuff, let's go." Harry spoke, his hands enclosing around her arm, now, pulling her forcefully through the crowd of people, and she could feel the fear course through her veins at his tone.

A fear she hadn't felt in a long time.

* * *

She shook as she slid her keys through the lock of her door, slowly turning them in the slot, before opening the door to her dark home.

Silence enclosed them, and she sat her keys down on her table as she heard him pour himself a glass of scotch, something he had bought for himself after moving in. She kept her back facing him, breathing through her nostrils, as she started to bend to take her shoes off, but feeling arms encircle her waist.

Her heart practically beat out of her chest.

"I just knew I should have put my foot down when you put on that little scrap of fragment you call a dress…" He muttered deeply into her neck.

"I just knew it was gonna cause trouble, I knew even more as I watched you stalk on up Bolton's driveway those fuck-me heels on your feet, and that's exactly what Troy looked like he wanted to do…fuck you." He whispered, licking a straight line down the baseline of it, and she shivered involuntarily.

He turned her around in his arms, and she was met with his drunken stare, his green eyes seeming to be clouded with black.

"Is that what you wanted to do too? Did you wanna fuck him?" He asked, his breath blowing on her face and she hesitated.

First mistake.

Like a burst of wind, his hand came down hard on her mouth, and she stumbled into the shelf, the sting from the blow throbbing on her lips.

"Did you Gabriella? Did you like the possibility that he was thinking about lifting your dress up and pounding into you right on his fucking porch! Huh?" He roared his hands fisting into her hair pulling her from her face first position against the piece of furniture.

"Harry please!" She sobbed, as he threw her into the wall opposite her, causing her to stumble backwards as the bleeding started from her nose.

He walked a circle around her taking another quick sip of his scotch, rolling his eyes.

"Would you have begged him to stop? Would you have begged that Jonathan guy to stop? You bitch," He rammed his fist straight into her eye and she hit the floor at the force of his blow.

He stared down at her sobbing body as she choked her tears back as they rolled down her face.

He stood still for a moment, before he landed a swift kick into her side. She cried out in pain and he kneeled down to her cowering body, while she writhed in pain.

"You thought you were such a fucking tough bitch, embarrassing me, throwing that drink in my face…" He took his glass and emptied it out on top of her, causing the silk of the dress to be stained with the liquid, and stinging some of her bruised face.

He threw the glass against the wall, it shattering, "It doesn't feel too good when someone else does it to you, does it? I didn't think so." He muttered as she continued to cry in pain, and he watched for a moment as she tried to pull herself up but he brought his hand to her throat causing her to fall back to the floor.

"Look what you've done to yourself, look what you've made me do…" He spoke, disappointedly to her before he raised himself up from the floor, and walked away from her body.

She heard a door shut, not being able to turn to see if he had left, mentally paralyzed. The last thing she heard was her useless sobs of agony before she just closed her eyes hoping for sleep or unconsiousness.

But not before she saw those blue orbs, protectively smiling at her, and she closed her eyes, tears sliding out under her tortured lids, as she laid there on her floor.

As if time had rewound itself and she was her old, helpless self again.

Feeling as if she'd never win.

**A/N: Please don't kill me, lol. But I know most of you knew this was gonna happen or had a feeling and trust me this is gonna lead into something else, I promise! Just hold on tight, help is on the way!**

**Review! **

**-Mimi**


	12. Cool Breezes Blow

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: Lol, I'm on a roll…**

**There is just something about your reviews that brings out a different side in me, lol. The different ones expressing how angry you are, or happy you are or how confused you are just brings joy to my day. Because it let's me know that I'm writing the way I need to be.**

**Sunnycougar: You don't understand how much I love the fact that you don't understand it anymore. You feel as if Gabriella should be most worried about her own happiness instead of everyone else's, and I understand that. But in Gabriella's head she thinks she gets her happiness from everyone else's happiness. And in a way Troy is thinking the same way. He is thinking if I just leave her alone she can be happy with whomever else she wants to be with, and I'll just have to live with it, because she'll be happy and that's all that matters. Their blinded. But trust me, the shit is about to hit the fan soon. So, please keep reading the story and reviewing, I love your opinionated reviews, they really are helpful! **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, that movie would have rated way differently…**

Chapter 12

The familiar music of the song that Troy called his favorite on many occasions blared through the speakers of his surround sound system, and for once…it didn't sound as great as it usually did.

He stared at himself in the mirror, his five o'clock shadow expertly shaven, the sun blaring through the blinds of his window, his beautiful fiancé sleeping gracefully tangled in the silky white sheets of his bed.

Something wasn't right.

He did everything he usually did to begin his day, not to mention a few extra things, and something still seemed different.

He wondered if it was the huge diamond that sat on Eliza's ring finger, or the fact that it was Eliza's finger that it sat on.

He couldn't figure it out. He had thought maybe it was the point that Gabriella was probably curled up next to Harry, her mouth slightly parted with sleep and her small hands fisted with his night shirt.

He didn't understand it, he just didn't.

He had washed his face several times, as if that would clear the fogged up feelings he held in his body, but came to find out that it just made his fingers prune like and his morning even more unusual.

And now here he was staring at his reflection in the mirror as if the expression of his oceanic orbs would fix whatever was bothering him.

And now, it was starting to irritate him.

He shook his head, now coming to the conclusion that maybe it was just his imagination, and nothing to actually worry about.

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts, and he turned his head just in time to see his daughter scurrying inside of his room, her tiny fists rubbing at her sleepy eyes, but a lazy smile on her face.

"Daddy…where are you going so early?" She slurred, her dark curls wild and partly tangled, much like her mothers, and he couldn't help but grin at his little girl.

"Nowhere yet, but if you want we can go somewhere…" He spoke, and she hopped into his awaiting arms, wrapping her arms around his neck as he carried her through the doorframe into his giant sized living room.

"Maybe, right now, all I can think about is food!" She said, and as if on cue her stomach let out a little growl which made him laugh.

"Seems like your tummy seconds that motion." He declared, heading into the kitchen to set her atop of the counter.

She smiled, at her father, swinging her legs as he opened the refrigerator rummaging through it.

"I would like a ham and cheese omelet por favor.." She trailed, twirling a strand of her long hair around her index finger and he turned to face her.

"Por favor, huh? Someone's been around their Abuela, haven't they?" He asked, and she giggled at him, nodding her head as he started to set a pan on the stove.

"Yes daddy, and she was so proud of me when I could talk to her using some Spanish words, because me and Momma practice them all the time." She informed him and he smiled at his daughter's quick learning of her heritage.

"So, then what do you need me for?" He asked, playfully and he could feel her roll her eyes at him, just like her mother.

"Cause you know the numbers, duh!" She spoke as if he should have known that. And he turned to face her slapping his forehead as if he had forgotten.

"Oh, right! But, wait a minute, don't Abuela and Mommy know the numbers too?" He inquired turning his blue eyes to meet with hers.

"Si, but, they teach me everything, I wanna learn something from you Daddy." She said softly, and he felt his heart swell, with joy.

He smiled to himself looking down at his breakfast creation he had made for his daughter, before he scooped it up and set it on a plate for her.

"One ham and cheese omelet for Senorita Montez, just the way she likes it." He announced and she clapped her hands together excitedly, before he moved her to sit on the stool.

"Gracias, Senor Bolton." She replied back to him and he moved to sit across from her.

"Daddy?" Her soft questioned and he remembered the fact that his daughter was very inquisitive thanks to her Uncle Chad.

"Yes, Puppy?" He answered reaching to steal a piece of her food, as she chewed her food thoughtfully.

"My friends at school, were talking to me, and they said to me, 'Julie, why don't you have the same last name as your Daddy' and I was going to answer them, but then I figured out that I didn't even know the answer to their question." She said, looking straight down at her plate, and Troy couldn't help but chuckle at the innocence of her inquiry.

"So, what you want to know is why you have Mommy's last name, but not mine?"

"Well, I wasn't finished…" She said and he held his hands up in mock defense.

"Sorry! Continue, Senorita." He apologized and she giggled. "So, instead of telling them the answer I said 'Well, my momma and I have the same last name, isn't that enough?' And Joseph told me that his Mom had the same last name as his Daddy, and a lot of other kids said the same thing." She finished.

"Then you want to know why Mommy doesn't have Daddy's last name?" He said and she nodded.

"Si, Senor." She answered, scooping up a bite of her food, and he grinned.

"Well, Puppy, When all the moms and dads get married, the moms get the dads last name, and well your Mom and I aren't married." He told her and she nodded, placing her finger on her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, why not?" She said. He sighed, but with a small smile. "Because Mommy didn't want to marry Daddy."

"But why not? You're perfect for her." She said, as if it was obvious, which in reality it kind of was.

He laughed at her naivety and poked her nose swiftly, "And how do you know that, Ms. Smarty?"

She folded her arms across her chest, knowingly. "Because, you're my Daddy." She said and he smiled at her.

"Well, thanks sweetheart, but sometimes that isn't always the reason moms and dads get married." He spoke taking her empty plate from in front of her to set in the sink.

"Well, what else do you need?" She spoke, spinning in her chair to stare at his back. He let the water run over the dish and smiled.

"You need to be in love, and you need to be happy…" He rounded off and she smiled, but he was unable to see.

"Well, do you love Mommy?" She asked, and he smiled to himself, before saying quite softly,

"Very much."

"Then why can't you marry her?" She asked, getting frustrated with him, just one more person upset at his stubbornness.

He sighed, before turning the faucet off to face her, he sat his hands on either side of her legs, "Because Daddy loves Eliza and he wants to give her his last name. And plus Mommy doesn't want it." And he pressed a kiss to her forehead, seeming to finish the conversation and close the subject.

But Juliana was left unsatisfied.

"You think she wants Mr. Harry's last name?" She questioned in a mildly soft voice and he shrugged, lifting her from the counter.

"I don't know Pup, but how about we finish this conversation later after you take your bath, and you me and Eliza finish our shopping trip, okay?" He questioned and her eyes lit up at his mention of shopping and she nodded vigorously, smiling at him and he sat her down as his phone rang.

"Hold up a second Puppy…" He flipped open the phone, grinning as he chatted whilst running her water.

She looked around in the hallway and was met with the tall presence of the one and only Eliza, long legs and all.

"Well hello there, Julie." She said, her manicured hands settled on her hips. And Juliana offered a slightly intimidated smile to the woman, her hands folded in front of her.

"Hi."

"Are you ready for our family shopping trip today?" She spoke, and the little girl nodded, silently.

"Seems there's been a slight change of plans," Troy interrupted from behind Juliana and as soon as seeing her father she turned and jumped into his arms.

"What's happened, Troy?" Eliza questioned, running her hand through her blonde locks sideways glancing at the little girl.

"Well seems, the coach called an unexpected practice and I can't miss it, which really sucks cause I really wanted to spend the day with my two girls but I can't."

Eliza looked more dejected than, Juliana who smiled at her Daddy at kissed his forehead much like he did her.

"It's okay Daddy, me and Ms. Eliza can go together, and maybe she can show me what kind of stuff her and her model friend's wear."

Eliza looked less than thrilled, at the little girl's suggestion, but masked it with a wide smile.

"That'll be great, me and Julie can bond, and we'll just swing by your practice afterwards." She supplied helpfully and Juliana nodded at her father's questioning face.

"Everything will be fine, Daddy." She reassured him, and he smiled at her.

"Ok."

* * *

The whistle blew loudly from the coach's mouth, and Troy and Chad both jogged over to the benches where they, sat sweaty and tired.

"So, hoops, how's the wedding plans going?" Chad questioned, a smirk on his face. Troy shot him a look and he shook his head.

"I wouldn't know, Eliza completely planned the whole thing by herself, and she's even set a date, listen to this, next Saturday." Troy stated.

Chad's eyes widened at the revelation and he sat up completely.

"You mean to tell me, that bitch from hell planned a whole wedding in less than two months?" He inquired, seemingly outraged.

"Five hundred and sixty seven people, I pick up my tux today and the invitations went out yesterday…" He spoke, as if it was the most unimportant thing in the world.

Chad scoffed, looking at his best friend, before laughing humorlessly. It was as if this woman had completely turned him into a zombie-like submissive son of a bitch.

And he didn't like it.

"Troy seriously? Are you okay with this? All this rushing to jump the fucking broom and shit, seems a little bit off to me…I mean it took Taylor and I six months to plan our big wedding and that was only to merely one hundred and fifty people, and it took me two weeks and a vacation to prepare myself."

"I've prepared myself, since I slipped that ring on her finger, Chad." Troy spoke, almost in monotone as leaned back against the back of the bench, his friend's words sounding almost far away to his stubborn ears.

It was not everyday Chad Danforth was the voice of reason.

"I mean but do you want to do this man? I'm asking you as your best man….are you ready to get married, even more so, are you ready to get married, to…her?" He questioned, and Troy looked over at him.

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I'm saying are you doing this for yourself? Do you really think you can spend the rest of your life with this woman?" He said softly.

Troy didn't answer, he just turned his head to look away from Chad. There was no answer to that question.

It hurt him too much to say. If it really boiled down to it, no, he did not want to spend the rest of his life with her, but the revelation came obviously that it wasn't about him.

It was about the real love of his life.

And he just knew Chad wouldn't understand if he tried to explain, but that was the end of the story, and unfortunately right now, to his ears their was nothing else that would change his mind.

"I mean, I always thought…."

"Let me guess you always thought, Gabriella and I would get married and live happily ever after, well Chad life's not a fucking fairytale, no matter how much I wish it was. There's no getting back to me and Gabriella. It's never gonna be like it was." He snapped and Chad stared pointedly at him.

"And why couldn't it be, Troy? Is it too much for you to just dump the bitch and beg Gabriella for your forgiveness? This is your life we're talking about Troy…and no matter how much you think you're sacrificing for Gabriella's happiness, in the end it's only leave the both of you, unhappy and regretful, do you really want to do that?" He asked, and Troy brought his cobalt eyes to meet the Chesnutt colored ones of his best friend.

"Has anyone ever told you that you can be the voice of reason at the completely wrong time?" He asked, and Chad laughed loudly causing him to do the same.

"Yeah, it was you. The last time you were on the edge of fucking up terribly." Chad said, and Troy smiled at him.

"I'm gonna do this, man, and whether you think it's wrong or not, I want you by my side…" Troy spoke, and Chad slapped his hand as if in agreement.

"Hey man, of course, what are friends for?" He told him, though his mind was betraying that thought, and he was sure his wife would do the same.

Troy cell phone went off and he pulled it out of his bag to answer, "Hey babe…" Chad rolled his eyes at the name.

"What do you mean? Okay, okay…just sit tight, I'm on my way." He spoke, his face pale, standing and Chad stood as well, confused, before he hung up the phone and practically sprinted to the car.

"Dude, what's up?"

"I need you to drive me to the hospital."

* * *

If you were to walk out the back door of Gabriella's house onto her patio, you would see Gabriella sitting almost completely still, except for the slight twitch of her fingers,

A cigarette clutched in between them.

She wasn't saying anything, she wasn't looking at anything, just letting her mind wander, her thoughts take her to another place.

She had awoken that morning to find Harry gone, no note or hint of awareness of where he could be, just emptiness.

Oh, but his things were still there.

She had stumbled into the shower to clean herself from the sick mixture of dry blood and tears that had mingled onto her face and body, and discovered that she had more bruises and cuts than she could count on her fingers.

Six on her face counting her black eye, and slightly cut lip. Two handprint like spots on each of her arms, one thin line horizontally across her throat, and a large bruise on her side.

She cleaned them all successfully and now found herself sitting exactly where she was, cigarette smoke filling her nostrils and phone sitting across from her, too weak to reach for it, physically and mentally tired.

She brought the cancer stick, up to her lips taking a puff from it, and closing her eyes as she softly blew the smoke out only to be met with a gust of cool wind hitting her bruised face, nicely.

Right now, she couldn't tell you what she was going to do next.

Well, firstly because she didn't know what she was going to do next, and secondly because she just wasn't about to spend her time dwelling on that.

She didn't want to acknowledge the fact that now she was going to have to start all over again, start the running, the begging, the weakness.

She didn't want to acknowledge the fact that she was going to become fragile after her time of fixing herself and that she would have to start repairing the glass that had been broken again.

And it was her own fault.

She closed her eyes at her own revelation and pressed the last of cigarette down inside of the ashtray, before swiping another from the box, to light and press to her lips.

Swallowing the smoke, it flowed freely out of her nostrils and she briefly wondered who she should tell.

If she told Sharpay, she was probably gonna have to bail her out of jail, and if she told Troy…she was gonna probably have to bail him out of jail as well. She chuckled slightly at her dramatic friend's reaction, that was bound to come.

She raised her hand to trace the cut on her lip, and found that once she touched it she didn't feel any bit of love coming from it. And as a matter of fact she was sure those hands that caused them did feel like the gentle caresses of love either.

And this body that was tainted by them, was a strong body, one that was hard to knock down…

But she was now sitting in this chair, bruised and cut and weakened and she had no one to blame but herself.

She was one of the most intelligent people, in her high school class, but she couldn't see that Harry was not changed.

She couldn't see that her relationship with Troy was not going to last forever…like she thought it would.

She couldn't see that if she didn't use a condom that she would get pregnant.

The little things that she had overlooked in her calculations of life was causing her ruff suffering and, she would have to redo everything.

Because she, just couldn't be this same Gabriella, anymore.

It was time for her to wake up from her, slumber and realize that she deserved better…she deserved love, and that maybe she didn't need it from a man…maybe alone was good.

She stood, grabbing her cell phone, and placed it in her pocket as she walked around the house to the front to check the mail.

She pulled out one envelope.

And she could never deny the fury that surged through her body at the fancy imprinting of her name on the face of it. And she couldn't tell you that she didn't feel hot tears flood her face as she ripped it open to reveal the entitling that was declaring that she joined Troy Bolton and Eliza Whitfield as they happily…

She wanted to break something.

It was obvious…but he never told her. He never told her that he was taking that step he never told her that he was truly gonna leave her.

She traced her fingers over the gold imprinting of his name…and the date for the coming up Saturday and she fought the urge to scream.

Another thing she could just blame herself for.

But what was this some kind of sick joke?

Did he really honestly think that she would want to join them as they joined in holy matrimony?

Did he think that she wanted to watch that bitch steal him from her for the last time?

How could he do this to her? She pressed her cigarette against her lips and took a long drag from it, before she took the head and pressed against the corner of the expensive invitation.

"Fuck you and your wedding…" She muttered watching it light before she threw it in the grass and stepped on the impending flame. She glanced towards it and found only a little piece of it left.

Picking it up, she saw that that little piece of paper was the inscribing of one name,

Troy Bolton.

She rolled her eyes before making her way into the house, but only to be halted by the ringing of her phone.

She flipped it open angrily without looking at the screen, "Gabriella Montez?"

"Gabriella! It's me-"

She resisted the urge to shut the phone, greatly, only because she slightly noticed the panic in his voice.

"What do you want?" She asked coldly.

"I need you to come to the hospital, something's wrong with Julie…" He said, and she could hear the fear in his voice, which she knew was rarely heard when talking to him.

"What's wrong with my daughter?" She spoke, freezing completely.

"Listen, I can't talk right now, you just need to get to the emergency room-"

"Fine, I'm on my way." She spoke, and without letting him reply she snapped the phone shut only to open her door quickly and grab her keys, whilst dialing a familiar number.

"Sharpay? Listen, something's wrong with Julie…"

* * *

The emergency room doors opened, and Gabriella, sunglasses and all, barged in as if hell was following her.

She pushed past Chad and head straight towards Troy. "Where's my daughter? What happened?" She questioned frantically, just barely noticing Eliza behind him on her cell phone.

"Calm, down Brie…"

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down! What the fuck is wrong with my daughter, Troy?" She snapped, and she felt Chad place his hand on her arm.

"Look, just sit down for a minute and let me explain to you, please?" He asked and she could see his own worry lines taking place on his forehead.

She sighed and sat down. Her knee rocking with anticipation, as he took a spot beside her.

"I got a call saying that I had to go to an emergency practice, well towards the end, Eliza called me, and told me that Julie had fallen-"

"You left my daughter with her? After I told you multiple times that I did not want her around her alone?" Gabriella cut him off, standing and he stood as well.

"I was respecting your wishes, but Julie wanted to stay with Eliza so I let her stay!" He defended, but she shook her head.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?" She demanded and Troy sighed and pointed towards the first room door.

Gabriella pushed past him and practically sprinted towards the door, before pushing it open to see a content Juliana, sucking on a sucker as a nurse wrapped a bandage around her thigh.

"Hi, baby, oh are you alright?" She spoke rushing to her side, to wrap her arms around her daughters body squeezing her tight.

"I'm fine, Mommy, and the doctor gave me a sucker because he said that I was so still when he did the stingray…"

Gabriella smiled at her, and laughed slightly. "You mean an X-ray, chica."

"Exactly," She replied and Gabriella placed her hand on her forehead.

"Listen, I need you tell Mommy how you fell, can you do that?" Gabriella asked her, and the little girl's whole demeanor changed.

A clear sign that something was wrong.

Gabriella, placed her hand on her cheek, "Sweetheart, it's alright, you can tell Mommy what happened…"

The little girl's head fell and she pulled the sucker from her lips, "Well, me and Ms. Eliza went to one of her fancy friend's house after shopping, and…well…I know you told me not to touch things….but i-it was so shiny and I didn't mean to break it, and Ms. Eliza got real mad…"

Gabriella's nostrils flared, "Did Ms. Eliza hit you Julie?"

She saw the tears start flooding from her eyes quickly, and she nodded furiously, crying.

"Real hard, and I t-told her that-that I was s-sorry…but…"

Gabriella nodded, and stood from her place at her daughter's side, "Don't cry baby, I'll be right back…"

She stormed out into the waiting room and spotted her prey like a hungry animal, chatting away on her cell phone as if this was any other day.

And Gabriella couldn't tell you that she calmly asked her to hang up the phone because she didn't.

She could tell you that she snatched the phone from her ear in a quick motion and rammed her fist straight into her nose however. She couldn't tell you every obscenity that emptied from her mouth as she threw herself atop of the woman, while her hands enclosed around her throat.

But she could tell you before she could finish what she started, a pair of strong hand encircled her waist and pulled her off of the supermodel.

"How dare you put your hands on my fucking daughter! How dare you!" Gabriella roared bucking in Troy's arm, ignoring the pain that flared across her side as his hands stayed clasped around her tightly.

"You're fucking crazy! Jumping on me like some type of animal, do you know who I am?" Eliza countered as Chad kept a firm hold on her arms.

"That little girl deserved to be punished, and I see where she get's it from, her crazy Mexican whore of a mother!" Eliza spat, and Troy almost lost his grip on Gabriella, as he was shocked at how she was sporadically moved at her words, really trying to free herself from his hold on her.

"Let me Go, damn it! I'm gonna fucking beat your ass you fake bitch! LET ME GO!" Gabriella roared kicking her legs, and Troy dragged her away out the back doors of the emergency room, away from the woman, away from the chaos.

He was met with the sunset, and a cool breeze as he continued to hold his ex girlfriend to his chest protectively as she was still trying to loosen herself form his bonds.

"Let…me…go…Troy," She breathed her chest heaving, and he noticed that their was tears flowing from her eyes, and he closed his eyes letting her erratic breathing calm, before he turned her around to face him.

He let her sit down on the bench that was lined up along side of the building and he kneeled down in front of her hung head.

"I'm sorry Brie…I'm so sorry." He spoke softly, lifting her head up to see her black eye and her cut face.

She shook her head, "Don't apologize! I don't need your apologies…fuck!" She exclaimed moving her hand to clutch at her bruised side.

His quick eyes followed her hand and he gently moved her shirt up to see the giant fresh bruise.

"He kicked you, didn't he?" He questioned lowly and she nodded, reminding herself of her daughter's silent reply just minutes before.

He stood up hands shaking with anger and he turned away from her. His hands took refuge on his hips, and he tilted his head to the sky.

"Troy…" She called softly closing her eyes.

"Son of a Bitch!" He roared slamming his fist into the concrete beside her, furiously hitting it, obviously imagining someone particular, and he was losing control…losing his mind with anger, and hurt.

He halted his vicious actions, and placed his head on the cool concrete, before pulling out his phone silently. "Troy…please don't blame yourself…"

"Get up, we're leaving," He declared looking at her and she met his shining eyes, with fear of trying to protest against his request.

She went to stand, but found herself tired, from exertion, and from the pain of her injuries.

He quickly scooped her up with his bruised hands bridal style, and started to walk.

"Where are you going? What about Julie?" She questioned, and he searched around wildly in the parking lot.

"Chad's gonna get her, I just text him, she's gonna go stay with him and Taylor and we're getting away." He said, and upon spotting her car, opened the door swiftly and placed her in the front seat without another word.

"But…why…Troy?" She asked tiredly, when he sat down in the driver's seat, and started up the car.

"Because," He pulled out of the parking lot quickly and she rested her head on the window.

"I need you, and you need a vacation."

**A/N: Whoo, okay talk about drama filled lol. Guess, what? If most of you haven't figured it out by now, Troy is starting to realize something his idiotic mind should have realized twelve chapters ago, lol. You can thank me by reviewing! **

**-Mimi**


	13. Besame

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: Isn't it amazing what wonderful reviews do to me? **

**Lol, I'm really clueless to what's gotten into to me, but I'm just really loving you guy's response to where I'm taking this story, it's amazing and I'm glad to see that most of you were excited about the vacation and have high hopes for Troy and Gabriella. Well….we'll see what happens, hehe. **

**So, the Palm Springs, thing? Total Zanessa reference, lol. Also hope everyone had a happy father's day, and all. **

**Thanks once again for getting me up to three hundred and eighty reviews, this is really the most I've ever had for any story, lol. This hopefully is satisfying to you guys because I just watched HSM2 to get my juices flowing a bit. **

**BTW: I forgot to mention that the last chapter's name came from a song from In The Heights called, "Finale." And this chapter's name comes from another song from In The Heights, called, "Sunrise." **_**Besame, **_**means 'kiss me' in Spanish. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, that movie would have rated way differently…And also, if I owned the beautiful La Quinta Resort I wouldn't live in Tennessee….**

Chapter 13

He was watching her.

His azure eyes transfixed on her silent frame, as she stood on the balcony of their villa.

She hadn't spoken, since their arrival in the luxurious La Quinta resort in Palm Springs, and it had been exactly twenty minutes since she had refreshed herself and changed. Now she stood wordless, the French doors opened to allow the cool night breeze to blow over her face, her shiny curls flowing magically with the direction of the winds.

He just stared at her, her body completely relaxed…her thoughts wandering as she gazed out towards the water, and the trees.

They were secluded, and she was taking that in. And he couldn't do anything but allow her to, he didn't want to do anything but that.

He enjoyed the way that her breathing steadied with each wave that washed against the shore outside, and that her hands braced softly on the wooden frame of the balcony, fingers spread wide in contentment, the moon casting a beautiful light on her face.

Her beauty was completely undeniable in that exact moment.

Her leisure, because of the relocation caused her bruises to fade in a certain way, in his opinion. Less stress was evident in every move she made, in every line of her face.

Her silk robe, was caressing her body nicely, sexily hiding her nightgown from his view but waving from the air, and making her truly appear as a goddess.

His goddess.

And he didn't dare bother her from that position.

Instead he sat, shirtless on the comfortable bed, observing her and her beauty and just absorbing her effective presence. Of course their were so many things that he wanted to say, that he wanted to do, but he was too captured to even form words, to even make an action.

Though that decision, was not up to him it seemed. For Gabriella stepped back from the terrace and shut the doors, with a slight snap.

He held his breath as she held her grip on the handles, her forehead tilting to rest on the frame of the glass.

Troy stood slowly from the bed, and took a step towards her.

"Please…" She whispered. And he watched her, as unmoving as she, while she moved her face to rest against the glass, as if in desperation.

As if in need of strength.

"Please…just tell me…" She whispered, and as the words emptied from her mouth, he stepped completely to her backside.

His arms encircled her waist with gentleness and her head rested on his shoulder. His hands braced against her silk covered stomach, the material feeling slick and cool against his fingers, as he pressed a soft kiss to the tip of her ear.

Her eyes closed with the feeling of his lips, and he held his position against the skin, before he grazed his teeth gently across it.

"I've broken you." He spoke, breathlessly, against the spot beneath her lobe, while he pressed his lips lightly towards it as well, her breathing slowing with each sign of affection.

His hands, loosened their grip, moving softly across her gown to clutch at her sides, gently, while his mouth tenderly showered her neck in affection.

"I've shattered you into in to a million pieces…" Her hands came up to rest in his hair, fingers lovingly tangling in the brown tresses as his mouth journeyed caressingly towards her shoulder.

His hands trailed slowly up her sides, her own following his, as one arm rested just below her breasts, her own covering it, and intertwining fingers as well, while the other still sat caught in his hair, his atop of it pulling it from it's position.

"I love you, and I will spend all night begging for your forgiveness," He spoke, as their hands, together, pulled her robe from her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground with ease.

It left her in her nightdress, that stopped at the mid of her thigh, while his hands now left hers to rest at the spot below the hem of her dress, fingers rubbing against the smooth olive skin of her thigh. Her breathing hitched, while his mouth attached to her shoulder firmly, sucking subtly at the skin there, while her hands fell loosely around his arms as they pushed her dress up her legs smoothly.

"And I will surrender the rest of my life to putting you back together, to putting us back together, if you will let me." He whispered, as he finished his confession and she bit her lip before turning her head to face him.

Looking up into his crystal eyes she spoke to him, "Tell me, again." She requested and he drowned in her pools of chocolate.

"I love you," He replied almost inaudible, but she heard clearly as his lips founds hers tenderly.

They fused against one another heatedly, moving in complete sync with the other, feeling erupting with each taste of adoration and sensuality.

His tongue soundly slid in between her parted lips with an acceptable ease, it interlacing with hers tightly causing her to moan with appreciation, as his hands traveled further under her dress, causing it to flutter upward even more, now quite messily bunched around her hips.

His fingers rested just above the waistband of her underwear, trailing softly across the skin there while his mouth finished it's almost never ending capturing of her mouth.

They moved away from each other, finally, allowing air to be inhaled before she turned in his arms pressing her forehead against his, as his hands now rested in a delicate grip against her exposed backside.

"Again…" She asked, with a small smile on her lips.

"I love you." He said a wide grin taking over his face, as he brought his hand to cup her cheek, staring into her orbs with adorning love and darkening lust.

And then he lost himself in her.

Troy caught her lips in a searing kiss, his tongue fevering and hot against hers, urgency radiating through the burning kiss.

His hands now moved bodily against her backside, while his mouth continued to work over hers with merciless fervor, her hands taking refuge on his chest, as he did so. He released them and proceeded to pull her entire nightdress over her arms, in a quick motion before tossing it to the carpeted floor.

Leaving Gabriella clad in only her underwear, with the moonlight being the only luminosity, causing her skin to glow with desire.

He brought her close to him, her breasts pressing against his chest, before she walked him backwards, his legs hitting the back of the chair that was sitting there. Leaving her to bestride him, her satin covered heat, aligned with his fabric covered manhood, while her hands laid awkwardly on her sides.

He watched her, freely exposing herself, erotically baring her skin for him, with love and abandonment.

He wrapped his arms around her stomach to capture one of her mounds of flesh in his mouth, suckling softly on the skin, bringing her to tilt her head back her long locks falling over his pant covered knees.

Her eyes closed, as her mind comprehended the feeling he was exerting on her body, his teeth abrading over her nipple, before freeing it with ease and switching his assault to her other breast, his face buried in her glistening chest.

She scratched his locks, with adoration, as he caused her thoughts to fuzz with his movements as they traveled downward towards her center, as his mouth finished it's caressing of her chest.

They slid under the satiny fabric of the tiny underwear that was covering her center, the tips of them resting precisely over her bud of nerves. She felt the temperature increase with the connection, and her breath caught in her throat as he started to rub against her sensually.

"Oh, god Troy…tell me again…" She moaned out, her lips parted, panting as he slid two of his digits past the folds with ease, moving them in and out of her slickly.

"I love you." He complied once again, with the same truth filled tone that she had gotten from his the last time he said it. He pumped inside of her fluidly, as she moved against his fingers creating greater friction against her wetness.

"I need you, all of you," She told him breathlessly and he pulled his hand from it's spot, his hands wrapping around the stringy panties, to snap them completely from her body with no mercy, causing her to be completely exposed and waiting for him.

Her mouth came in connection to his, his hands gripping her face with an almost erotic vigor as her limbs traveled downward to his pants her hands reaching into them to grab hold of his length above the fabric of his boxers.

His gasped inside of her mouth, as she brought her hand across the bulge smiling as she did so, before removing it, and hooking her fingers around the waistband of both the boxers and the pants.

He placed his hands over hers, giving her the hint of removing them, before she raised her hips to allow him to slid his barrier of clothes down past his knees.

She watched him with want, as he revealed his member, proudly waiting for her.

"Say it again." She stated, swallowing as she sat suspended above his arousal, his hands taking refuge on her hips.

"I love, you…" He said softly, and as his words came from his lips, she lowered herself onto him.

It was the most complete she had felt in a long time.

He filled her all the way up, hitting her spot, in the exact right way, causing her to drawl out a long guttural moan, his fingers pressing into her hips as she stilled herself atop of him. He couldn't think straight, watching her bodily reaction, her chest arched into him, her hands squeezing the handles of the chair with a certain grasp, her eyes closed with pleasure.

He felt her press her forehead against his, as she started a back and forth motion on his shaft, their conjoined bodies creating a wonderful friction between the two.

She bit her lip, working her center over him slowly, feeling his anticipated breath over her mouth as she rocked her body on him.

And he captured her lips with his as she braced her hips against his at an acceptable speed, silence taking over them, as a small sheen of sweat started on her forehead.

She panted into his mouth, as the feelings started to wash over her slowly. She sped up her actions to an even higher speed, feeling his hands make rest on her backside, squeezing the flesh and pushing himself even farther up into her, making her cry out loudly.

"Yes, Troy…" She threw her head back, in ecstasy and he could feel the tips of her hair scratching at his legs. Gabriella placed one of her hands on his shoulder, as he took over her fast pace and combined it with his hard strokes, making an equally erotic sensation for her to feel.

"Oh, fuck," He muttered, the feeling of her around him, overwhelming him greatly. She wrapped her fingers towards his neck fondling the hair at the nape of it.

She clenched him between her walls and he buried his face into her neck muffling his groan at the sensation that followed her actions.

"Shit…say it again, baby, please…" She whimpered, and he licked at her neck, tasting a sweet mixture of perspiration and her skin.

"Jesus, I love you Gabriella, and I'll tell you for the rest of my life…" He confirmed and she switched her actions at his words, proceeding to bounce atop of his length now, adding an effect to her chest, which enhanced his deep feelings.

"God, Gabriella…" He groaned out and she moaned with every thrust she released on him, his hardness hitting her spot on, making her whole body seem to light up.

He thrust his hips upward into her prevailing strokes, and she screamed out in growing ecstasy.

"Oh, fuck Troy…oh fuck yes," She panted as it started to rise up inside of her, big and climatic.

And he just knew she was on her way, her face portraying her lustful stance in their embrace and watching her as she came upon her hilt, caused him to pound into her in a quick hard speed that only made her fall over the edge in a fit of spasms, screaming out his name in a tone of erotic success and pleasure.

So loud that it drowned out his own animalistic declaration of finishing, and he stilled inside of her, as he spilled everything into her.

He was breathing erratically as she rested her forehead on his shoulder, her heart beating at a racecar's speed. He brought his fingers to her hair, damp with sweat, where he tangled them in the tresses stroking them in a lustful adoration.

"I love you." He said lowly and she smiled into his chest before raising her head to reveal it to him.

"Everytime you say it, I heal faster…" She whispered to him, and he grinned lovingly at her. Pressing his lips to hers in a soft embrace.

"I honestly don't think I can try to survive without you anymore."

* * *

Troy found himself staring at his lover once again that next morning.

Gabriella was turned on her side facing him, the sheets from the bed covering her nude body like a cocoon, while she indulged in a peaceful slumber.

After spending half the night basking in lovemaking, they decided that sleep was necessary and she passed out, in his arms. He was awakened by the knocking on the front door of their temporary home, food being delivered that he had ordered for her.

But he just couldn't find it in himself to bring her to consciousness.

She was peacefully gorgeous, her lips parted with soft breaths of contentment and her hair fanning over her face, unmoving, and as still as she.

He propped his head in his hand, smiling down at her sleeping form, before bringing his fingers to trace the design of her lips softly, obviously tickling her a little with the gentle movement, and causing her to slowly open her eyes in confusion.

Then her eyes met his, and a soft smile took over her features, and he returned it with ease.

"Good Morning." He said, and she snuggled into him a little more.

"It is."

"Are you hungry? I got some breakfast because I figured you would be-"

But, she caught his lips in a melting kiss, more mouth watering than any breakfast, divulging into his mouth with her tongue, cutting off his meaningless sentence.

He brought his hand to her hair to caress the locks with abandonment, as she continued to wildly work her mouth over his, and sense of tiredness being washed away with the contact of their lips. She moved her sheets away to bring herself atop of him, surrounding him once more, his hands rubbing at her sides sensually.

"Hmm, and that was for?" He questioned softly, parting from her somewhat reluctantly.

"Being you." She said with a slight shrug, and he pressed a kiss to her lips, before she grabbed his hand with both of hers to bring it to her chest, settling it over her heart.

He felt the steady beats of the vessel, and grinned at her. "What is this?"

"This is you feeling what you do to me…you give my heart a reason to beat, Wildcat." She informed him softly, and he moved his hand to her neck where he gripped it softly.

He just watched her, smiling, almost to the point where he was studying her, now.

She gave him a slight crooked grin, "Now where's breakfast?"

"We'll eat, but first…" He trailed, losing himself once more in her orbs that were filled with not only the chocolate color, but a deep pool of love and devotion.

"First, what?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows, as he brought his other hand to rest upon her arm.

"Kiss me."

And with a wide smile, she gladly complied to his request.

**A/N: Whoo, finally after putting "Sunrise" on repeat, I finished, lol. Okay, so just think of that as a start, my friends. Trust me there will be more vacation coming up, Troy and Gabriella have got two months to make up for, hehe. And plus, the drama should return, but in which form? Harry or Eliza? You pick, lol. **

**So, my birthday is Saturday, and I'm looking to updating by Friday, depending on how the reviews look, my friends! And as I say that, REVIEW!**

**-Mimi**


	14. To Make You Feel My Love

_**Can't Help Myself**_

**A/N: *Jaw drops***

**Four hundred and thirty nine reviews guys? This is truly amazing. TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! And this is probably the best birthday present that I'm gonna ever receive, lol. **

**You guys really don't understand how wonderful you are. You don't understand how it makes me smile when you guys are enjoying this story as much as you guys are. I'm so awed at the fact that you guys compliment me so well, when in reality it is you that makes this story what it is. **

**So, thank you a million times over for your reactions and reviews and criticism, both good and bad, it is a honor for you guys to be that opinionated about my story, I appreciate it. **

**Anyways, lol, Thanks for the birthday wishes, I'm most excited about it because I get to go see Transformers, lol. But that's off the subject. So, this chapter is kind of like the last one, but a little different. OH! And there was one reviewer that commented about them leaving Julie for two months, they're not gonna stay that long, lol. But I'd say about a week or two, *hint, hint.* **

**BTW: This chapter's title does indeed come from the song by Adele, it's a really beautiful song, and I just love her, honestly. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, that movie would have been rated way differently…**

Chapter 14

She thought she was gonna be able to keep a secret from him.

Troy figured, even after their partial separation that she would learn of his ability to blindly figure out any kind of secret or surprise with great ease. But, nevertheless, her stubborn self decided to try and keep this from him, try and hide it from him.

He waited in the wings of the satin curtains that shaded the French doors, from the outside sun.

The terrace was partly surrounded by plastic to protect it's beauty from the various tins of paint that sat around a very hardworking Gabriella, whom had obviously, snuck her work into their little vacation, while he was out.

He pulled the ray bans from his face, with a smile on his features as he took in her appearance.

Her giant sized white button up, that was obviously his, clutching her body with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and her jeans stained beautifully with different speckles of color. Her hair pulled into a messy ponytail which had so easily deteriorated, and now resulted in numerous strands of curls framing her face.

She was concentrating lovingly on her current piece of art, her tongue poking out between her luscious pink lips as she used her brush to smudge blue towards the masterpiece-in-the-making.

He folded his arms across his chest, as the wind blew a nice breeze, pushing her tresses off of her face, to reveal the slowly fading bruises that laid there. He couldn't escape the frown that took over his face at the sight, and managed to shake the terrorizing image of Harry beating his lover out of his mind as quickly as it had entered.

She smiled, staring at what she had gotten so far, and Troy realized that she was painting out of pure contentment, and happiness…in her comfort zone.

He dropped the bag containing his purchase, on the carpet, before he softly pushed the doors ajar, making her attention focus on him.

"You caught me…" She spoke softly, and he grinned, before walking out towards her.

Gabriella's smile, turned a little wider at his presence, and he went to stand behind her, while she turned her focus back to the easel.

"I always catch you Brie," He replied, his hands planted in his jean pockets as he watched her dab a hint of green to the chaotic scene that she was creating in front of him.

It seemed to be a crescendo of colors, making up a female figure, standing in front of a male figure, painted in a crescendo of colors as well, his rainbow-like arms wrapped around her waist, and his head bowed on her shoulders, planting kisses along her blade.

"They seem to be quite content don't they?" She asked him dipping her brush into some red, as he watched her hand maneuver the utensil across the bodies caressingly.

"Perfectly matched, one and the same…" She trailed, with a slight smile, as Troy mimicked the picture, his tanned arms encircling her waist softly, though his nose burying in her soft curls, taking in the scent of her hard work and shampoo, mix.

"But, they're really not. They have slight differences, little things that are not perfect about them both…" She clarified, adding some more red towards the male figure.

And upon her words, he observed the painting a little more, noticing little green specks in the blue portion of the girl. Or faint orange stripes in the purple of the male.

For some reason, this conclusion made him grin.

"But, the position that they hold with each other is clear in the stance of their bodies. He's overlooking any flaws that she may have, telling her with his lips that, she is not flawed, that she is perfect in his eyes. And she is reveling in that declaration, perfectly alright with his reassuring, gripping his arms in a way that's showing him that he's doing the right things, that he won't hurt her." She finished, dipping some more color onto the selection of art.

He ran his thumb along her covered stomach, it's motions providing a bit of a soothing sensation for her.

"Talk to me…" He requested, in a whisper, and he faintly noticed for the first time, the music playing softly around them.

"Why did you leave me?" She asked, curiosity in her tone, rather than spite, and he nodded his nose in her hair in appreciation.

"I was afraid…I was worried that I would lose everything. I put my material things and my future before you and Julie. I got halfway off campus before Kelsi, stopped me and I spilled everything to her….I would have never tried to come back if it wasn't for her." He answered, dipping his fingers in a bit of green paint, before he trailed it lightly on the side of her neck.

She nodded her head continuing her process of finishing her piece of art. "Why not keep trying to be in my life completely? Why just accept it, and try to move on and be unable to get your fill of me? Why deny your love?" She asked softly, undemanding.

"I could ask you the same…" He replied, and she tilted her head back on his chest as he brought his fingers to her buttons of her shirt to unbutton them simply one by one.

She felt the cool paint come in contact with her now bare stomach, and his other hand trailed over her body in a way that was in the greatest of sensuality to her.

"I couldn't risk getting hurt, even though I wanted you so bad…I couldn't put myself through the pain…though I guess an even greater amount of pain came with it." She announced in a rejoinder to his question.

"And I couldn't bare to see you hurt at my hands, but I guess I really just hurt you even more, which for that I am sorry…" His words were sincere and between his fingers and their light touching and his genuine tone of his words, she was swelling with understanding of the complicated encounters.

"And I didn't want to be such a hypocrite, but everytime I would remember when I found you that night, battered and half conscious...that son of a bitch standing over you, and I just didn't want to relive that moment." Troy revealed, Gabriella's white shirt slipping past her shoulders, but hanging around her arms as she continued her soft trailing of culture.

He created his own masterpiece with his fingers, unknown patterns being his style, as he stroked the olive skin with the paint.

"So, any guy…especially Harry, I'd run away, I'd convince myself that it was for your good, that it was right…because really you would always be mine but, I only had myself to blame for reaching that low…" He kissed at the back of her neck, and she dabbed the last few drops of color onto her work.

"I _will, _always be yours…" She whispered, setting the paintbrush on the easel, before letting the shirt fall to the ground as she turned in his arms.

Her hands rested in on his chest, as he pressed her paint stained body against hers. Their mouths fused together, slowly and savoring after the delicate confessions from both, devotion and love pouring from the mouths of both.

"_Go to the ends of the world for you…To make you feel my love…" _

The lyrics surrounded them swallowing them, in a way that was deep with coincidental truth.

The line of the soft song that just so happened to be playing, at that exact moment in time, being their perfect explanation.

Their defense for their love.

* * *

It had been decided, Troy's favorite thing to do, was bury himself into Gabriella.

Especially, when they were in the middle of fucking.

The lovemaking was enjoyable, obviously. But there was a different feeling that transpired between him, when he was thrusting into her with no hint of mercy. And At the moment, her legs had taken place atop of her shoulders, ankles held in a tight grip as he slid in and out of her vigorously.

He couldn't tell you how they would get to this point, this…erotic abyss, where she was screaming obscenities, and thrashing around him, clenching him tightly with each thrust he would ensue.

"Oh, fuck! Troy…" She was panting in a an absolute frenzy, her bangs sticking to her forehead, while the rest of her long tresses fanned around her.

He held her legs tightly, grunting with each slap his hips would make against, her.

"Shit Brie, you love it when I fuck you hard and fast," He groaned out, and she whimpered.

"Oh, god yes…" She moaned, her fingers grasping the headboard above her head harshly, while he rotated his hips with every quick stroke he released into her body, hitting her deeply, making her cry out in pleasure.

The way he talked to her, his words dirty and controlling, made shivers erupt across her body, making her get even more aroused, heightening the feelings that his length was causing inside of her.

"You like it when I talk to you like that? When I tell you how much of a naughty girl you really are?" He questioned huskily, removing her legs from their spot, to be spread to his enjoyment, wide and open, while he pounded into her even more forcefully.

"Answer me, Brie, tell me how much you like my cock, and my filthy mouth, talking to you while I fuck you…" He trailed, slamming into her as if to emphasize and she arched off the bed at the feeling.

He'd never said anything like that to her, and she couldn't express how much she enjoyed the words emptying from his mouth.

"Oh fuck Troy, I fucking love it when you talk to me that way, oh!" She cried out, and he tilted his head back as his thrusts grew frantically fast, a speed she didn't know he possessed.

"I love you, and I love being inside you…" He groaned out, as Gabriella clenched him between her walls, her heat milking his length causing her body to experience a height she had never felt before.

"Jesus fucking Christ, come on baby, come with me…"

She cried out in absolute ecstasy, her body stilling completely as she crashed into back to back orgasms, Troy pulsing hard inside of her as he spilled everything he had into her heat, groaning her name out as he was reduced to weak thrusts, before he went still as well, lowering himself, to press his lips against hers before rolling over to lay beside her.

She curled up against, his side, panting heavily, frantic for oxygen, neither reaching for any kind of cover for their nude, sweaty, bodies.

"God, you're amazing, Brie…" He whispered burying his nose into her hair, and she smiled at his revelation, before she replied.

"I know…you are even more wonderful, I was so empty without you, so how did you go without me, for two months?"

He looked down at her as she turned her face upwards to look at him.

"I got reacquainted with my palm…" He said trailing off, and she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

"It's not funny!" He spoke, and she used her hand to stifle her laughter.

"Oh, you poor, poor, baby…" She said, reaching up to pinch his cheeks, before he playfully snapped his teeth at her fingers. His phone ringing broke the two out of their post sexual phrase, and they both stared at it as it laid on the table.

He hadn't touched it since they had left the hospital, and it had been ringing off of the hook. He didn't really want to answer it, just not really wanting to get back to the reality of things, so he ignored it.

He knew it could've been his parents, but they were smart, they'd call Chad.

It could've been his publicists, but they were just as smart as his parents.

When in doubt, call Chad.

"You really should answer it, Troy…it might be important." She spoke softly her fingers caressing his thumb gently, and he sighed.

"I just don't want to deal with them, Gabs." He stated, and she understood his dilemma, so she gave him one last kiss before leaping off of the bed, nakedness and all. He stared at her confusedly as she crossed around the bed easily, before his eyes widened as she picked up the phone, "Gabriella, don't-"

"Hello, this is Troy's phone Gabriella speaking." She stated as if a secretary, and Troy couldn't deny the brief thought of her in a tight pencil skirt that passed through his brain.

"You're just the bitch I wanted to talk to," The furious voice stated, and Gabriella recognized it as the voice of the one and only, Eliza Whittfield.

Gabriella's eyes darkened, and she placed a hand on Troy's chest as he approached her.

"Listen to me-"

"No, that's not going to work for me, so how about you shut your fucking mouth and listen to me goddamn it," Gabriella said lowly, and Troy just stared at her as she spoke viciously into the phone.

"You have pushed me to the fucking limit, you took him from me, and then you had the audacity to put your moutherfucking hands on my little girl…you will fucking reap what you goddamn sow, you hear me bitch? And I'm not sure when that will be, or if I will get the chance to provide that by sticking my size six and a half foot up your ass, but it's coming, and you better prepare your botoxed face for it." She snapped.

"I will ruin you and your bastard child, Gabriella! He doesn't want you anymore! You fucking cunt! He loves me, as a matter of fact let me speak to him!"

Gabriella, raised an eyebrow at Troy, and shrugged her shoulders handing him the phone. "The bitch would would like to consult you."

"Hello?" Troy spoke into the phone tiredly, as Gabriella's head disappeared from in front of his face.

"Eliza, you hit my child, I can't marry someone who has hurt my baby girl, and you crossed that fucking line so-oh shit…" He trailed, as he felt his length be enveloped by the warmth of Gabriella's hot mouth.

She smiled, taking him in deeper, as he cleared his throat, while burying his fingers in her locks.

"All I did was provide a little discipline for the child, the bitch of a mother she has obviously wasn't doing enough! And if she causes that much trouble, then maybe it's time to choose, Troy!" His eyes widened at her revelation, but also, as he felt the tip of his long member hit the back of her throat. She moaned and the vibrations sent the most pleasurable sensations throughout his body.

"Oh, fuck…Eliza…you've done it now, I can't fucking choose between my daughter, and I won't even be faced with the…fuck…idea…" He panted, as he felt her tongue run along his cock.

Her fingers massaged his backside, while he grabbed her hair, using it to bob her head against his shaft, thrusting into her mouth.

"Your telling me that your leaving me for that immigrant bitch?" She screamed outraged already on the verge of a temper tantrum.

"Oh, fuck yes! Yes…god your mouth feels so good around my cock, Brie…" He trailed, Eliza's words drowing in the feeling that he was being graced with, closing his eyes just letting her take over as she continued to graze her teeth along the skin of his length, while sliding him all the way in and then out in a fast motion.

She moaned around him again, taking a little bit in her hand before swirling her tongue around the tip, and then taking him all the way in again, her eyes staring directly into his open ones as she did so.

"Troy! You cannot do this to me! I will tell the press! I'll make your life a living hell! You can't leave me…I love you." She tried weakly, and he rolled his eyes.

"Tell whoever you want, Eliza it's just gonna come back to where you hit my child, and just think who does the media love more?" He stated, completely clear, as Gabriella rolled her eyes in turn and started her fast bobbing again, slapping his butt quickly as she did so, a sign to finish the conversation, but also causing his eyes to roll in the back of his head.

Silence came on the other end of the phone, and he grinned, licking his lips.

"We're over, Eliza, now build a bridge and get the fuck over it." He finished ending the call and dropping the phone before driving himself into Gabriella's mouth as he was doing before.

"Fuck, Gabriella! Shit….you feel so good…I couldn't even…talk." Troy panted as she looked into his blue eyes, a smile on her face before she allowed him to hit the back of her throat one last time, causing him to spill into her mouth, her herself lapping every bit of him up, greedily, before releasing him with a pop.

"That was the point, Wildcat." She spoke, with a sexy smirk, before he brought her back to her feet, devouring her mouth, and tasting himself on her lips.

And as the kiss grew responsive they both faintly heard an incessant knock on the door to the villa, which broke them away from each other.

Gabriella sighed. "Please put on clothes and take care of that, I'm gonna hop in the shower okay?" She spoke softly, and pressed her lips to his, before he nodded. She reluctantly left to head into the bathroom, before Troy put his boxers on to head downstairs in order to answer the door.

Upon, pulling it open, he couldn't really say much.

He was frozen in his spot, his oceanic blue darkening to a deep azure…at the sight of the piece of dirt standing in front of him, a smile written over his face.

And the bastard named Harry raised an eyebrow at Troy's tense stance.

"I'd figured anywhere you'd be, she'd be, tell Gabriella to get her stuff, I've come to take her home." He stated calmly.

Troy nodded once, before he brought his fist hard across the man's face, a sickening crack echoing across the house it seemed as he fell to the ground of the doorway, scrambling to get back to his feet, Troy seeing red across his vision, as he reached for the son of a bitch.

"She is home."

**A/N: Ha ha, I know I'm evil, lol. But I promise I'll give you the rest of the fight in the next chapter, lol. It went from really sweet to really raunchy in like a matter of scrolls, didn't it? Lol. Well, give me a birthday present!**

**REVIEW!**

**-Mimi**


	15. Gravity

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: So, yes I took a little time off I guess you could say, lol. **

**I really appreciate you guy's response to the last chapter. Safe to say I've never written anything like that, speaking of Gabriella's little stunt, lol. It's the one type of smut I haven't indulged in writing. But, I see that I didn't do too bad with it, and that you guys actually enjoyed it, so now I can do more with it now, hopefully. Also thanks for the birthday wishes, made my day, it really did. **

**On another note, this story is well on it's way to coming to an end. I know, it saddens me too, but it's the truth. I'm not sure how many more chapters it will be but I'd say a good five more, until it's over, I don't know. **

**I'm still working out the details of that, and how long I wanna hold this out. But until then, we're gonna plunge deeper into the complicated abyss that is Troy and Gabriella, shall we?**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did though, it wouldn't be on Disney that's for sure…**

Chapter 15

Gabriella Montez always knew when things were too good too be true.

She couldn't deny her extreme comfort and happiness in her rejoining with Troy, their current position a reflection of her running bliss.

But…she couldn't help but dread something terrible disrupting said bliss.

It was one of those bad habits that she was working to rid herself of.

Because, every past event, when she was subjected to this same kind of contentment and settlement that her life could have, there was always something or someone that came to ruin it.

So, of course even in the midst of their impromptu, but successful trip to their secretive vacationing villa, she was waiting for the sure interruption that would most likely plunge her back into a harsh reality that her life would never be un-chaotic.

To her surprise, they had successfully made it through the week without anything providing discomfort, and though Eliza's call was meant to be "menacing" or "threatening", it was in the least bit so thanks to Gabriella's, talented tongue, and she couldn't help but feel the victory rush through her veins as she entered the bathroom after pulling her little stunt, as a warning to the vicious model.

She was beginning to think that, maybe, just maybe this was the start of a turn of events, and she could feel the control of her life slipping back into her grasp after so many days and months of handling it with an unbalanced force.

Behold, Gravity.

For once, it wasn't working against her, perhaps in her favor. She quietly shut the door to the giant bathroom, willing herself to face her reflection in the giant vanity mirror.

She pushed her curls off of her face, smiling at this once battered woman she found herself disgusted with at one point, in her life.

She fingered the olive skin around her eye, the ring that settled having faded almost completely, nothing to remind her of her downfall, her lip having healed, she basically looked her old self once again, with the exception of a few minor cuts.

And of course, the fading bruise on her stomach.

She looked at her self, her nudity unaffecting her, and she bit her bottom lip as she pulled the white gauze from the spot.

She stared at the slightly brown spot, that most would find ugly, and degrading, serving a memory to her beating, something that one would have been ready to rid themselves of.

But, not Gabriella.

To her, looks were only skin deep so, she wasn't bothered by her injuries anymore as a matter of fact, she found herself falling in love with her injuries, this one especially.

It seemed to be some kind of…motivation, you could say.

It was a place she never wanted to be, it was the significance of what she was fighting for. What she would lose sleep over.

Her happiness.

Troy played a big part of that, and it was a done deal. She was quite sure that there was no one else in the world that she could be with, and this horrifically beautiful bruise was a clear sign of that.

Most of it would eventually be gone, maybe even all of it, but her and Troy wouldn't be.

They would never fade.

She closed her eyes sighing at the fact preparing to reach and start her shower, but found herself being pulled from that trance at the expense of a crash sounding from the living room of their small villa.

She froze in her spot, dreading what could be the result, and finding herself slightly disappointed that yet another moment of happiness was discontinued because of reality.

Deciding that a weapon was out of the question, she exited the bathroom, towel wrapped around her body firmly, not too quick but her steps paced greatly. And as she slowly pulled the door open to leave the confines of the bedroom, she braced her hands on the banister as she walked along the hallway, before stopping at the top of the stairs, the sight making her pause.

Their was Troy, his boxers providing the only clothing on his body, as he grabbed Harry, by his shirt and slammed him quite soundly into the glass shelf that now lay broken.

She didn't know what to do, she found herself enabled from moving, seriously. It was a mesmerizing piece of scenery.

Troy, looked as if he would set afire any moment, with the way his skin glistened with red.

"Harry, I feel like I'm going through déjà vu, like, we've had this conversation before…" He spat at the man, bending down over his immobilized body, that lay groaning and cursing beneath him.

"Or, no, I know what it is…" He spoke, laughing menacingly, snapping his fingers as if really remembering, "You've been in this situation before, haven't you?" Troy asked him his sense obviously way out of his control, his rage overpowering his smarts.

Gabriella could have answered for him.

"Only, you weren't the weak fragile one were you?" He asked him lowly. "Huh? Or maybe you were, even throwing blows at Brie, maybe you were as weak of a bitch as you thought she was, what do you think?" He spat.

Harry didn't reply.

"Maybe I need to help you, perhaps…refreshing your memory could work." He said calmly, and Gabriella flinched at his words.

"Let's role-play, shall we?" He said pulling him upwards.

And she found herself diving back into that night.

Troy, landed his punch straight into Harry's jaw, for the second time, causing Harry to slam into the door.

_Like a burst of wind, his hand came down hard on her mouth, and she stumbled into the shelf, the sting from the blow throbbing on her lips._

"You son of a bitch bastard, I'm gonna fucking kill you, for putting you fucking hands on my Brie!" He roared at him. His raised tone slightly more tortured than Harry's horrifying one from the memory.

"_Did you Gabriella? Did you like the possibility that he was thinking about lifting your dress up and pounding into you right on his fucking porch! Huh?" _

He landed another hit into his gut, before bringing his knee towards his face, and breaking his nose with a crack that seemed to echo in surround sound, around the room.

"This is your line, Harry! You sick bastard, this is the part where you start begging for me to stop beating the living shit out of you, come on, BEG ME HARRY, LIKE SHE DID!"

Gabriella closed her eyes, not sure what she wanted to do, her sight and memories becoming too much for her too grasp.

"_Harry please!" _

_He walked a circle around her taking another quick sip of his scotch, rolling his eyes._

"_Would you have begged him to stop? Would you have begged that Jonathan guy to stop? You bitch!" _

"BEG ME TO STOP HARRY! COME ON, YOU COWARD!" Troy brought his foot to his side repeatedly, the sounds of his pain obviously sweet music to his ears, and Gabriella could feel herself slightly pained at the sight, but Gravity, obviously back to working against her at this point causing her to stay in her spot.

He brought his hand down on his throat, quite similar to the way he did her and, she couldn't help but clutch her own throat.

He turned to grab the whiskey bottle that sat on the table, and poured himself a glass before emptying in atop of Harry's battered body.

"You bitch-ass motherfucker, what do you say now? As they lay…practically dead in front of you? What do you say?" He said, voice hoarse from his anger, his chest heaving, hands bruised and blistered from his acts.

He braced those hands on his hips, and the man rolled and groaned under him, his words broken and slightly muffled.

She braced her hands on the wood of the terrace that surrounded the hallway, watching the scene, her tortured lover finished with the now useless man, bending his body forward to rest his head on the surface of the door, his chest heaving in tiredness.

She fixed her eyes on his back, sweat glistening off of the tan muscles that clenched with every breath he took.

His brown hair swept over his face in an artistic fashion, and finally she felt her legs bring her slowly down the staircase, towards the slightly damaged living room, and more importantly towards his defeated features.

She silently brought her arms around his waist, pulling him to her while she rested her head on his bare back. Words unneeded, her actions providing her statement.

She nuzzled her nose in the crease of his tense back, before he turned to meet her gaze.

She reached up to press her lips against his soothingly, the gentle motion of their mouths moving against each other giving him some sort of peace, some sort of…reassurance.

Her fingers glided up towards his brown mess of hair and she tangled her digits in the long strands while she gently worked her tongue over his in a calm, but relatively needy way.

A loud knock pulled them from their trance, and she lifted her head to look worried, at the offending intrusion.

"Has to be the police, Troy…" She spoke for the first time, now more worriedly from her reigning calm reaction, and he bit his lip pulling her behind him, always protective as he reached to pull the door open.

They were met with an officer, and Gabriella watched as Troy and the man went over the incident, the man calling for an ambulance and backup, confirming that they would handle the "situation" with great consideration of the press.

She took a seat on the couch, tucking her feet under her, while her towel sat securely wrapped around her, watching her lover handling the events, feeling a bit of remorse for the trouble she was surely causing him.

Knowing that the police were very serious about keeping the situation under wraps, but that little shit of a mind, making her wonder what would happen if it got out, the incident more alarming than the news of their relationship.

It was bothering her that the whole thing could ruin his career and most of all it would be all her fault and she would feel like complete shit for causing him any kind of loss.

She knew her eyes were glazing over with the sights of the paramedics carrying Harry's body, and the officer's coming to join the one already taking a much needed statement from her weary lover.

She glanced at the still conscious, but bloodied man, and felt slightly queasy at the triumphant sight, pressing the back of hand to her mouth, feebly, pushing whatever uneasiness she felt back down into her stomach.

She stared off into the air of the room, as the two man basically milked her man's statement, by every syllable, making sure everything was perfect, and finally shaking his hand, and respectfully dismissing him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Troy shut the door to their now peaceful villa, resting his tired eyes on his girlfriend, her body curled under her, the white towel hanging securely, around her.

She looked as if a perfected sculpture, deep in thought, and he couldn't help but allow a lazy smile take over his features as he inched his way over to her, meeting her concerned mocha eyes with a gentleness, as she stood from her position, and he hugged her once more, pressing a slight kiss to the top of her head.

"Everything's gonna be fine Brie, I just know it."

And after what seemed like one too many times of hearing that statement, for once she felt a assurance in her heart that things would actually be fine.

* * *

Wading in the slightly warm water of the pool, Gabriella had never felt more at ease in her life.

She had her gold ray bans hiding her face from the bright rays of the sun, as she rested her back against the wall of the water filled surface, her damp hair pressed against her back and neck as she tilted her head back in relaxation.

The incident from earlier that day had caused a slight halt in the reunion like vacation, but after getting a call from the station confirming the arrest of Harry, and the long list of charges he was already on the line of being convicted for, their was no doubt of his definite incarceration.

That eased most of her inquiries, but not surprised that her stomach still had a slight twinge to it, and she was wondering if it was because her fright of the press finding out.

Before she could elaborate more on her health and concerns, her swim trunk clad god, burst his way through the French doors, a smile on his face as he placed his arms in a folded position across his chest.

"What do we have here?" He voiced, sounding quite husky, and Gabriella lifted her head from it's lounging spot, and smiled widely at him.

"Finally decided to join me, huh?" She questioned, gliding over to the edge of the pool where he stood closest to, and resting her chin in the space of her folded arms.

Troy grinned down at her, "What makes you think that's why I came out here?" He said teasingly, and she raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"Is it not, I mean you're even dressed for the activity, so for what other reason could you possibly be out here?" She stated removing her wide frames from her face and setting them down beside his feet.

"A very precise one actually…"

She raised an eyebrow at him, and leaned back in the water to back peddle deep into the abyss.

"Enlighten Me," Gabriella stated with a smirk, only causing him to grin at her widely, and crouch down to speak directly to her face.

"Well for one I'm sure you don't mind me showing off my glorious abs, that I've been working hard to tone up," He gloated and she couldn't help the eye roll that crossed her lids.

However, not denying her right to scan over those indeed sculpted abs that looked as hard the concrete that surrounded her water-filled area.

"Working hard? Since when have you gone to the gym to work out, once this entire vacation?" She spoke, contradicting him, as she swam back close to his face, giving easy access to slide his fingers across her soft cheek.

"Who said I tone them up by working out?" He whispered, and she bit her lip at his revelation, never forgetting of their various strenuous activities that they had subjected to the whole time they were secluded here.

Basically saying, she couldn't tell you what the rest of Palm springs looked like.

She pressed her lips to his, earning a slip of movement from his tongue against hers in a searing kiss, before she pulled away with a smile.

"You still haven't told me your reason for being out here, if not to join me in swimming…"

He caressed her cheek in a gentle fashion. "For the simple fact of watching you swim, my dear." he stated, and she smiled at him, before moving out of his reach to showcase her back as she dove under water and raised back up quickly, causing the water to give off a glaze from her skin.

"Sweet, but it's a much better experience when you join me." Gabriella tempted, and he swallowed at her very revealing gold bikini, that was clinging desperately to her curves.

He struck a position of musing, and then proceeded to lower himself gently in the water, following her lead around the base of the pool. His muscles rippling as he seemed to swiftly parade around the wetness.

Gabriella turned to him, resting her back once more against the tile walls of the area, his hands bracing themselves on her hips.

"How are you?" He asked, rubbing circles absentmindedly on her hips, and she sighed in contentment, before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm fine, I guess." she stated, the churn in her stomach contradicting her statement. And he kissed along her neck, seeming to reassure whatever thoughts she was having, though unknown to them.

"Troy, how can you be sure that the press won't catch hold of our…relationship." She finally stated, with a semi-frustrated sigh.

His mouth still worked gently on her neck, and he seemed to talk around it.

"I can't…but I've realized that I really don't care what the press thinks of our relationship." He stated calmly, and she bit her lip as he nipped quietly at her shoulder.

"They could tear you down Troy, they could hate you for leaving precious Eliza, all alone, no doubt she's already sold that story to them, that you cheated." She muttered, anger flowing freely into her brains at the thought of the woman trying to take up her offer on ruining his career.

He moved his hands to her arms where he rubbed smoothly, calming her tense aura, and she ran her fingers through his brown locks, "Then, we'll just counter her story, and we'll tell the press our statement, and if she dares to lie then, you'll threaten to press charges, we'll deal with this."

She raised an eyebrow as his lips continued more feverous on her neck, the licking and sucking turning from gentle to heated in mere seconds.

She allowed her eyes to flutter to a close, as the sensation of his mouth racked through her body, his hands moving towards the waistband of her bikini bottoms, fingers tracing the outline of them.

"We'll?" She questioned, her hands fiddling with the hair at the nape of his neck, and he grinned.

"It's you and me now, babe," He whispered, and she felt her strings come undone to her bottoms, the clothing floating away leaving her center bare in the water.

"Besides, I'm just dying to be able to show you off in public…I'm sure the fans will consider you a step up from Eliza." He bit more harshly on her neck, earning a needy moan, and her hands dipped to the top of his back.

"Oh, god Troy…" She groaned out as fingers circled her heat, pushing her more firmly against the tiled wall as he did so, and she felt his hands release the strings of her top as easily as he did the bottoms.

He pressed his mouth against the hollow of her breast sucking fiercely on her nipple, and making her gasp in pleasure as he did so, her legs wrapping around his waist, the fabric of his shorts pressing against her.

Any other concern was pushed back and made fuzzy as two of his fingers plunged into her wetness, pumping with a renewed fever.

She moaned throwing her head back to rest on the outside concrete of the pool, his mouth switching to the opposite breast, holding her nipple between his teeth and pulling as his fingers kept a steady rhythm inside of her heat.

"Oh shit." She voiced, reaching her hands inside his trunks to grab a hold of his hard member, his quick intake of breath around her breast enough to make her grin, as she started pumping in pace with his finger thrusting.

They moaned in unison equal pleasure being provided for both parties.

"Jesus, Gabi…j-just…oh god yes, right there, shit…fuck this." He stated brokenly and before she could blink he had yanked his fingers out of her and ripped his shorts away with one motion, and driven himself hard into her, buried all the way to the hilt.

"Oh, Fuck!" She screamed out, with a voice he had never heard from her before as she raised her hands from his neck to his hair as he pressed his mouth to hers vigorously, thrusting his tongue into her mouth at the same pace as the hard strokes his length was subjecting her womanhood to.

He was thrusting into her with a harshness that pushed her up another inch on the wall with every movement, and he tightly gripped her thighs, clamped around his waist holding on for dear life, as he rolled his hips a few good times, causing her to surge into a frenzy.

"God damn it, Troy, oh Jesus-fucking-Christ, that feels so good…." She panted, her hands going to grip the gravel, so tightly she was afraid of breaking it.

She brought her pelvis to meet his in crashing thrusts that magnified the feeling between the two causing them both to groan out in ecstasy.

"Shit, Brie…you feel amazing…" He muttered, burying his face into her neck, the water splashing around them as they wrapped themselves in each other, chests and foreheads pressed tightly against one another, making them bound together.

And neither would have it any other way.

The feeling began to heighten, Gabriella started to voice her satisfaction a little more loudly, and Troy new that she was close.

He brought his fingers to her hips and gripped them harshly and started grinding her center against his shaft hard while he continued to slide in and out of her with no mercy, a speed that was taking her to the clouds.

The waves from the cool water ran up against her bundle of nerves at the exact time he decided to roll his hips skillfully in time with the motion.

"Oh, oh, Fuck YES, Troy!"

And his lover tumbled over the edge pleasurably screaming his name so loud it pained him erotically to hear.

He knew she was a screamer, but she had never screamed this hard.

That knowledge in itself made him pound into her even more vigorously, sending himself into his own orgasm and plunging her into a second one in the middle of her first.

The sight was epic.

Her head thrown in back in complete ecstasy, eyes shut tight and mouth open in a silent scream, as he emptied himself uncontrollably into her, groaning loudly into her neck, biting it as he finally came down from the high.

He felt her shuddering go still and he breathed heavily atop of her feeling her legs go completely slack around his waist, obviously having soared downward from her cloud nine feeling as well.

"Brie…" He called softly, a lazy smile on his face as he slowly raised his head from her neck to see her eyes shut contently and body still.

Obviously unconscious.

He frowned at her state, "Gabriella? Gabs? Brie, wake up!" He started worriedly, and he frantically pressed his ear to her neck, to hear her pulse, and sighed in relief.

He took some water, and splashed it gently on her face, and slowly she allowed her eyes to flutter open.

"T-Troy." She said lazily, meeting his blue orbs with her mouth twisted into a smile. He grabbed her face and pressed his lips to hers lovingly, moving his mouth tiredly against hers as the water continued to surround them, adoringly.

"Baby, don't ever scare me like that again." He spoke softly and she brought her hands to rest around his.

"Did I pass out?" She asked, confused, and he nodded with a chuckle. And her eyes widened slightly.

"Oh, my god…that's never happened before." She said, looking off and he grinned pulling her chin to face him again.

"I can see that, and I'm also flattered that I brought you to that moment, but I'd rather not be faced with the sight of you unconscious…even if is within the throes of our passionate sex." He stated, and she laughed before she captured his lips happily and hungrily covering his grin with her own content smile.

A blaring loud ring tone broke them from their post love making stage, and caused Troy to groan loudly.

He hadn't answered his phone once all week and, it had been ringing off the hook. Only two people were calling him constantly.

His Manager.

And, Sharpay.

And quite he frankly he did not want to answer either. Gabriella had done something he should have considered and took the battery out of her phone and hid it so she couldn't find it.

She watched him disengage himself from her body, and pull his shorts up dejectedly swimming quite gracefully backwards to let her strap her own clothing back together.

She smiled, as she reached behind her to tie her top around her neck. "Troy, maybe you should answer the phone…it could be important…"

"I doubt, it." Troy spoke, running a wet hand through his damp locks before turning to glance at the bag on the chair, that held his overly ringing phone.

Gabriella stared at his conflicted features before she sighed and turned to exit the pool quickly, tying her bottoms around her waist as she went. She felt his eyes follow her as she did so, and she quickly, grabbed the phone from the bag, as she had done before, before turning to face him.

"Gabriella…put the phone down…" He spoke, "menacingly" and she smiled as he pulled himself out of the water to stand facing her, looking as if he was going to fight her.

"Troy, I'm doing this for your own good, now just step back, and let me answer the phone." She said backing up slowly towards the French doors that led to the house, watching as he matched every step her foot took with his own.

"Brie, don't waste your time and ruin your energy on trying to get away from me, you could be using it…elsewhere." He said quirking an eyebrow at her and she had enough time to roll her eyes.

"Passing out wasn't enough for you?" She spoke, changing the subject, clutching the still ringing phone tightly in her hand, as she reached back and rested her hand on the doorknob of the door, halting her movements, and causing him to halt them as well.

"What can I say? I'm insatiable, baby." He said with a smirk bringing his arms to rest on either side of her head, and she looked up at him biting her lip softly.

"You are…" She trailed as his eyes bore down into hers.

"Come on, Gabi, we both know who's gonna when this battle…" He said quietly, bringing his finger upward to trail around her lips, making her eyes finally flutter closed and she willed herself to quickly pull herself together.

"We do…me!" She squeaked quickly, and as fast as she could she yanked herself from his grasp and slid into the house to shut the door on his face and lock it while she answered the phone, with a smirk.

"Hello?" She spoke into the phone formally, resisting the urge to laugh at a frantic Troy subjecting all his strength to try and pry open the door that she was holding her entire body against.

"Now you decided to answer your fucking phone!" An angry female voice came through the speaker so loud that Gabriella had to hold the phone away from her ear, cringing.

Even, though a smile took form on her face at the acknowledgement of the woman.

She had met the fierce manager that Troy had to answer to on many occasions.

Sherrie Westwood was one of the best sports representatives in the business, for the simple fact that she was the spokes person for "no nonsense" and on occasion, opening up a can of "whoopass".

It was the reason the woman and Sharpay shared a friendship together.

"Hello? Hello? Troy fucking Alexander Bolton you had better not hung up on me, or I-"

"Sherrie, it's Gabriella." She tried, closing her eyes tightly as she felt the door being moved against her back, her strength wearing with his pushing on the door, the lock obviously not being enough to hold him.

There was a long silence in which she could hear something moving, and a switch in the opposite atmosphere.

"Well, thanks god it's you." She said with a laugh, and Gabriella furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Um-"

"Jesus I was so afraid Troy had skipped on that bitch because of some bimbo, and even though I still would have been happy with his decision to finally come to his senses, it's a relief to know that it's someone way classier, it'll be easier to clean up the mess." She said, her voiced laced with relief.

Gabriella smiled, at the compliment, "Thanks-"

"No time for that right now, where the fuck is Troy?" She blurted out cutting off Gabriella once again and she grinned choosing that exact moment in time to unlock the door, causing Troy to literally fall into the room.

"He's unable to come to the phone Sherrie, but I'm all ears if it's important." She spoke, muffling her laughter at his struggles to get off of the carpeted floor.

"Ok, well I guess from now on it's basically gonna involve the two of you, but anyway, somehow the shit has hit the fan, All the tabloids have the bullshit story on Troy's disappearance with this mystery "woman", a.k.a, you, leaving Eliza in tears, blah, blah, blah."

Gabriella laughed with an eye roll at Sherrie's nonchalant attitude. "I've dealt with that shit, giving a statement, that Troy has indeed made it clear to the bitch that he doesn't want to be with her anymore, but I'm damn near one hundred percent sure she is going to attack him with shit, and try and ruin his name, now I have an idea of what to do and how to stop it before it begins but I need to know first what the fuck you have in mind, because if we're thinking the same thing then we can slaughter this whore."

Gabriella gave a weak smile to Troy who had made it off of the floor and was looking most concerned at the phone pressed to her ear.

"I think it's time to reveal this mystery woman Sherrie, if it's what's best for his career, and if that doesn't take care of everything, we'll give the authorities information on her assault against my daughter."

"What the fuck did you just say? You mean the bitch put her fucking hands on my Julie? Oh fuck no, I'm about to murder this-"

Gabriella laughed, with widened eyes, under the fact that she knew whatever Sherrie was threatening if she was serious about it, she would live up to it.

"Calm down, Sherrie. I've handled that, but we only let it out if necessary, ok? I think it would be best to attend some sort of public conference, or event and give a clear statement on the situation."

He watched in awe as his lover conversed with his manager, thinking of ways to handle the process of their relationship going to a public position, and a way to do it with a proposed class, so much to not drag their daughter into it.

"So you just basically want the public to know enough to satisfy, but too much?" He heard his manager clarify, and Gabriella nodded, having jotted things down on a notepad while he was going over her elegance in his head.

"Sherrie, I'm here to stay this time…So, I've got to make a good first impression, right?" She voice with a smirk, and the woman laughed over the receiver.

"You are one smooth fucking criminal Gabriella, I always liked you, but I gotta go and get started on cleaning this shit up." Sherrie commented and she shook her head at the comment, though Troy couldn't help but grin.

"Thanks, Sherrie, any message you want me to relay to your client before you go?"

"Oh yes, tell him that he's a fucking bastard for not answering my fucking phone calls but putting me through this fucking bullshit and that when this childish shit is over and he returns to L.A. I'm gonna chop his motherfucking balls off with a fucking butter knife." She said quite calmly, but clearly as Gabriella happily put her on speaker phone so that Troy could understand every threat.

"I love you both, Smooches."

And the phone went dead leaving a giggling Gabriella and red Troy, in which she had to hand him his phone but before she could even place into his palm it rang again, and highlighted the ID of Sharpay Evans, causing her to be the groaning one this time.

"Now, you know how I feel, but that's okay cause your punishment is coming later." He voice huskily, and she couldn't deny the shivers that ran down her spine at his words.

She rolled her eyes playfully, before she answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Isabelle Gabriella Alejandra Montez, I don't even know where to fucking begin!" Gabriella closed her eyes at the screeching blonde over the receiving end.

"Shar…"

"Don't fucking Shar, me! Were you even gonna tell me that the son of a bitch hit you? Were you fucking gonna even relay to me that you and Mr. Fucking lover boy took a fucking vacation to goddamn Palm Springs? I'm sitting here wondering why the fuck is fucking Troy Bolton's name all over every fucking news channel, and turns out he left the whore for a mystery woman! Who of course is YOU!"

She finished her rant, out of breath obviously, and Gabriella started to pace. "Sharpay, I'm really sorry, it was too much going on at the time, I just didn't have time to call you, but I knew Chad would tell you everything."

"Damn fucking skippy he did, for once he was good for something…But still, I forgive you, I'm just confused, bitch…what the fuck is the verdict on your dysfunctional relationship? Are you? Or aren't you?" She spoke impatiently, calm and forgiving.

By this time, Troy had came to wrap his arms around her, his lips pressed softly against her forehead.

"We Are, Shar, that was the point of us taking the vacation." She said tiredly, and she heard the squeal, causing her to pull the phone away from her ear.

Again.

"Oh Jesus fucking Christ, you are a miracle worker, I think I might go to church, just because of this! Finally, ok so then tell your newfound boyfriend if he ever causes you pain again I'll stick my stiletto so far up his ass he'll taste Manolo's for breakfast."

Gabriella couldn't contain her laughter and obviously neither could Troy, who burst out laughing along with her.

"I understand, Shar, thanks for your concern." He spoke loudly into the phone. And they even heard some giggles from her end.

"You're daughter wants to speak to you guys," Sharpay said, and Gabriella furrowed once more in confusion.

"Why is she with you? Chad is supposed to keep her-"

"Taylor's been having false labors lately, so we've been alternating so they can get to the hospital on time, you know Chad's freaking out because he's scared the baby's gonna be premature, but still, they want to be prepared." Sharpay stated and under her words she could hear an excited Juliana dying to get on the phone with her.

"Give her the phone Shar." Gabriella stated calmly, though she couldn't mask her excitement of hearing her own daughter's voice after being apart from her.

"Mommy!"

"Hi Julie!" Both her and Troy spoke into the phone, and she turned to see his own eyes glazing with adoration and longing for their daughter as well.

"Mommy, Daddy, I miss you guys, so much! But Aunt Sharpay is taking good care of me, and Uncle Chad and Auntie Taylor can't watch me cause the baby might be coming!" She said excitedly.

"Wow, that's exciting Juliana, did you help Uncle Chad when Auntie Taylor got sick the first time?" Gabriella asked, and Troy pressed his nose to her hair as she spoke.

"Yes, ma'am, I carried her over the night bag." She said, matter-of-factly, and Troy laughed.

"I think you mean overnight bag, Puppy." He said, and they could practically hear their little girl rolling her eyes.

"Either way, I carried it, and we waited at the hospital forever for the doctor to let Auntie Taylor to go home until finally they said that the baby was still in her tummy." She said.

"That's sounds really cool, Julie, but what have you and Aunt Sharpay been doing?" Gabriella asked curious as to what her best friend had concocted to keep her and her child entertained.

"Shopping!" The little girl spoke and Troy rolled his eyes.

"I should have known, what'd you buy Pup?" He asked smiling and she recited her purchases telling why she bought them, and the fashionable advices that her Aunt Sharpay had been giving her about the clothing items.

"Daddy when are you and Mommy coming home? Cause, Aunt Sharpay said you guys went to Prom Springs to talk." She asked and Gabriella couldn't deny the pain in her heart at the sad tone of her daughters voice.

"Soon, baby." Troy stated with a weak smile and she couldn't help but look up at her lovers facial expression.

"Daddy, um, did you and Mommy talk about love in Prom Springs?" She asked meekly and Gabriella nodded as though the little girl could see her.

"Yes, sweetheart we did talk about love." She answered.

"You know Mommy and I really love each other." Troy provided and a gasp echoed from his daughters mouth at his revelation.

"Does that mean that you gonna get married, so she can get your last name too?" She asked and Gabriella couldn't help the blush that touched her cheek at the mention of marriage.

She willed her chocolate eyes to travel to his cobalt one's and he smiled, "I don't know Puppy, we'll see about it when we get home okay?"

The little girl agreed and as well as Sharpay, said her goodbye's to the couple.

Gabriella pressed her lips against his, moving hers across his smoothly, before she pulled away. "I guess we're gonna have to go home pretty soon, huh?" She stated, resting her head on his chest.

"Time to face reality." He said softly and she nodded, before quickly looking up at him again.

"You think we're cut out for it?" She asked him, and he pressed his mouth towards hers again.

"I think if we taught ourselves how to love each other the right way, then surely we can teach ourselves how to handle the press." He said with a chuckle and she laced her arms around his neck, before leading him towards the bed, her bikini sliding off on the way.

The knowledge that they would most likely return home to L.A., where their chaotic world of lies, and paparazzi would be waiting for them, couldn't do much to dim the love that had been lit between them.

They could and would, handle it.

Together.

**A/N: So, sorry it's been such a long time, but things just got busy on my end, you know? But I'm back with the chapters, and I just want to say this was possibly the longest chapter I have ever written, lol. Well, please review, and next we'll deal with Eliza and the press. **

**Review!**

**-Mimi**


	16. Stop The World

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: Hey!**

**Lol, well I didn't receive that many reviews on the last chapter which I'm not angry about because I really deserved that, after practically abandoning you guys, which I am once again sorry for, lol. But anyways, I have to give a shout out to the funniest reviewer ever, celestiallove56, you were frickin hilarious, you made my day, lol, and especially since receiving my first bad review on another story of mine. So bad, that it was way past criticism, to the point where it just made me want to stop writing. So this chapter goes out to you, haha!**

**So, I need you guys to tell me what you think about me ending the story cause that's coming around pretty soon, and about sequels and outtakes and such, cause I love the concept, but don't know how to quite keep writing it, cause I hate developing sequels, I'm doing one now for another story and it's difficult as hell, lol. So please let me know in a review or a PM or something, it would really help!**

**BTW: This chapter is named after Demi Lovato's song called, "Stop The World" from her new album, "Here We Go Again", which is so frickin perfect for Troyella situation at the moment, lol. Plus I love the album and her, you most definitely should check it out, it's awesome and so is she, (since she was number one on the billboard top 200 albums, just saying) lol. Okay, enough advertising!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Um, if that were true It would have been on HBO maybe, not Disney.**

Chapter 16

Stepping out of the car and back onto the L.A. soil was bittersweet, in both Gabriella and Troy's opinion.

For both were excited to see the face of their four year old daughter, and also their friend's faces at the joyful news of their rejoining.

It was the moment that everyone close to them had been waiting for had arrived and as if a national crisis,

Everything was right in the world again.

On the other hand, the fact remained that the public was practically waiting on the tips of their toes for the two to arrive and both knew that when they did trouble was due to arise.

In the name of Eliza.

Gabriella was ready, to fight and defend her love for her man, and quite possibly her daughter if needed, and Troy was by her side in agreement.

So, the sentiment was mutual about the feeling of the Los Angeles atmosphere clouding around them both as they journeyed into his giant home, their friends and family waiting patiently on them as if they had come back from war.

But one could not escape that easily, for camera's seem to appear out of nowhere the second he slammed the car door shut and grasped her hand, and both found themselves being hassled by the vultures, as flashes and questions started to engulf them simultaneously.

"Welcome back, Troy! Nice Vacation?"

"Why'd you dump Eliza Troy?"

"What about Juliana, Troy?

"Is this Juliana's Mother, Troy?"

Gabriella couldn't even think straight, as the ray bans that obscured her vision blocked most of the drama out of her line of sight, but felt herself being dragged up the walkway of the mansion, by her lover as he smiled and laughed fakely at some of the more ridiculous questions that followed the repetitive ones.

It was chaos.

And she was happy when the door opened perfectly on time, to reveal Sharpay, who pulled them inside, and posed for a few pictures to make the hungry photographers happy.

It's wasn't as if she minded.

Gabriella tore her sunglasses off of her face as the paparazzi continued to surround the house, desperate for any sort of entrance of peek at the inside.

"Holy, shit, I gotta get used to that, don't I?" She asked, sighing as she ran her fingers through her tussled locks.

Troy who had left her side and was busy greeting his friends, came over to kiss her soundly, "Yeah, but their only that bad when you don't let them take your picture."

"Mommy, Daddy!"

Gabriella stood and whipped herself around, only to catch her daughter mid jump, in her arms.

She hugged her daughter close to her body, and inhaled the smell of her wild hair, as Troy came over and placed a hand on the little girl's back.

"Oh, sweetie, Mommy missed you so much." Gabriella said before pulling her apart so that Troy could grab her and launch her into the air in a playful manner, sending her into a fit of giggles before kissing her forehead.

"And I missed you too, Mommy, and Daddy you too!" She said running her fingers through his obviously untamed hair, like she so often did.

Her blue eyes found his, and he nuzzled his nose against hers softly, causing Gabriella to coo at the two adoringly.

"I know you did, Puppy, and we thought about you almost all the time we were there…" He said lovingly and Gabriella grinned, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Yeah, almost, being the key word there." Chad offered and a still round Taylor smacked him around the back of his head, making her both laugh and hurry over to greet her best friend.

"Yes! Little Elijah waited until his Auntie Gabriella got home, before he decided he was gonna come.." She spoke, and Taylor grinned somewhat tiredly before waddling over to the couch to lower herself onto, of course with the help of Chad.

"Even though he decided he was gonna give the rest of us hell with the false alarms," Martha stated, sitting by Gabriella on the long couch.

Gabriella noticed everyone except two people and she looked questioningly around at the group, and Sharpay chose to answer.

"Ryan couldn't come, Kelsi's been having problem's with her blood pressure and the baby, so he decided that they would stay so she could be in a stress free environment."

"Which was best because anywhere near that shithead over there, is a clusterfuck of stress!" A new voice came, and everyone turned to be revealed to Sherrie, herself, entering the house and donning a bright yellow pantsuit, and strappy white Manolo Blahnik's to match.

Sharpay squealed and went over to hug the friend, whereas Troy cowered behind Gabriella who left him to greet the loud and proud manager.

Her dirty blonde hair was laid in curls and framed her face, but didn't so much hide the raised eyebrows on her face as she aimed her green eyes fiercely at Troy himself who stood as if visibly shaking.

Martha glanced at Julie and grabbed the little girl's hand in order to lead her out of the room, before war broke out.

Everyone quieted as Sherrie left her hug with Gabriella to stalk up to him.

"You are a scumbag, Troy Alexander! You fucking decided to fucking leave your fiancé to go on an impromptu vacation with the mother of your child to have a fucking fuckfest, and you didn't even once consult me! And you knew the motherfucking press would be fucking all over it! Especially since it was A WEEK BEFORE YOUR SUPPOSED WEDDING!" She roared, poking him in the chest with her manicured finger and Gabriella couldn't help but grin at her lover cowering and backing himself against the door.

"I should feed you to the goddamned sharks myself, but you're are fucking lucky that I love you and your fucking basketball skills, and your ever so sweet mother, who by the way wants you to call her since you decided that YOU WEREN'T GONNA ANSWER YOU FUCKING PHONE THE WHOLE DAMN TIME!"

The whole room flinched at her that time, and she was breathing heavily her hands plastered on her hips.

"She could've been dying you fuckwad! I could've been dying! But did you think about that? No! Luckily were all still here, but unfortunately want nothing more to do than to kick your scrawny little ass!"

Troy had his eyes shut tight and had his hands raised in surrender to her maddening tone.

"Now, what the fuck do you have to say to that?" She questioned, her breathing still haywire.

He peeked an eye open, "I love you, please forgive me, and…I'll give you a raise?"

She pursed her lips for a moment, tapping her foot on the hardwood floor, before she nodded with a smirk.

"Damn fucking straight, you'll give me a raise…or I'll kick your ass."

And he then proceeded to crack a smile at her before pulling her into a bone crushing hug, that lifted her off the ground and cause the whole room around them to erupt in laughter.

Gabriella just smiled in a warm way, as he released the tiny frame of the woman back onto the floor.

Her heels clicked against the wooden floor and she placed both hands on her hips, facing the entire mass of people surrounding the sitting room.

Troy made his way over to his lover, his arm going to slide around her waist, comfortably.

"So now, basically all of us are finally on the same page which is the point that are favorite dysfunctional couple has finally come to obvious fucking conclusion that they needed to be together all along."

Whoops and hollers were heard around the room, and Gabriella allowed a faint blush to cross her cheeks at the act.

"But even though," Sherrie started her stern but smiling voice trailing over everyone else's and silencing them instantly.

"-They've fucked each other's brain out, there is still the prospect of the press and the always annoying Wicked Bitch Of The West." She stated, and Chad let out a very loud bark of laughter, that Gabriella smirked at.

"Gabriella and I have devised a plan together, and we have decided to go easy, unless things get down to the point, where if necessary…"

Sherrie looked over at her reigning partner in crime with a grin.

"I will slaughter her."

"Fuck "necessary" I'm ready to bury this whore now! I haven't forgotten the fact she put her hands on my Goddaughter." Sharpay spoke up, her fingers flexing unconsciously.

And Gabriella couldn't help but notice the twitch of anger that flooded through the room, making the air stiff with hostility at the woman that had obviously injured their beloved Juliana.

"I don't think any of us have, Shar, but you just have to wait for that moment, and get in line because I'm sure if the shit does hit the fan and anybody gets a crack at her ass, Gabriella has already called first dibs." Taylor stated, looked over at her best friend, who had a look of pure revenge laden on her face, Troy behind her rubbing her arms soothingly.

"Damn…I feel a major chick fight in the works." Chad stated and Troy laughed, with a slight nod at his revelation.

"Maybe, but we need you guys to cooperate first, most of you are well known in the celebrity circuit, and even more you're known as friends of Troy, and I've talked to the coach of the Lakers, who has agreed with me to have a press conference for all of the guys, in a few days, discussing both personal and career matters. But, until then no slips on who the "mystery" woman is. We all know it's Gabriella, but they don't need to know that yet."

Sherrie spoke, her eyes being cast down towards her phone which she was typing furiously on, as the words flooded from her mouth.

"But…how do we know that Eliza isn't gonna try to give up Gabi's name?" Zeke questioned, earning a murmor of agreement from around the room.

Sherrie laughed, her eyes still unmoving from the cellular device.

"She won't…because with that she knows she'll have to reveal the fact that Gabriella's Julie's mom, and if she does that the press we'll be curious as to why her story claims that Troy left her for a random girl when the truth is that he went back to his ex. The stories won't match, and it'll reveal the fact that she's lying."

Sherrie had obviously mapped the entire situation out, with the help of problematic Gabriella, who always under any circumstances mapped out the pro's and con's of everything.

Gabriella herself, though, was still slightly fearful of the outcome of the entire "controversy". The slight twinge in her stomach had not ceased at the burning thought that she could ruin Troy's career with any slip.

As matter of fact she felt herself, more than a little bit uneasy the entire ride they took home.

As if by a magical force, Troy sensed her sudden tensing up, and he looked down at her.

"What's wrong Gabs?" He asked, and she looked up at him, a smile echoing on her features.

"Nothing, I'm just gonna go into the kitchen…I'm kind of thirsty." She stated weakly, as the rest of their friends continued to talk amongst themselves.

"I'll go with you." He stated, proceeding to follow her into the ginormous area that was designated as his kitchen.

He fished inside the refrigerator, for the necessaties to fix her glass of water, and she hung her head over the sink, stretching her arms to rest her hands on the edges.

The quizzical feeling melted away as a pair of strong arms came around her waist, pulling her securely against the familiar body of her lover.

"I've never realized how big this house really is, Troy." She stated softly, letting her eyes cast around the kitchen, trailing over the stainless steel utensils and the marble countertops.

His lips pressed against the hollow of her neck, trailing feather like kisses on it, and she closed her eyes at the gesture.

"It's too big…I'm thinking about selling it." He stated nonchalantly, and she gasped almost quietly turning to face him.

"What? Why would you do that?" She questioned, bewildered at his urge to make the huge decision.

"I mean I don't need anything this big when it's just me and my two favorite girls." He stated with a smile touching his features.

Gabriella's face lit up at the obvious prospect of his question. "Are you asking me to move in with you, Wildcat?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Troy pressed his forehead against hers gently.

"I want you forever Gabriella, in our house, with our own backyard and our own bed, that only we will share together, I want "us", purely to be just that."

He stated and she nodded at his declaration, pressing her lips to his softly, intiating a burning kiss, as she brought her hands up to his locks where she tangled them roughly in the mass of brown that sat there.

His hands melted down her body, cupping her ass and lifting her soundly, to set her on the edge of the sink, never once breaking their embrace, swirling his tongue in the crevices of her mouth, to create electricity waves throughout both of their bodies.

Her fingers trailed up under his flimsy t-shirt, raking across his chest possessively, while she finally pulled back, allowing the proper amount of oxygen for both mouths to breathe.

"…I love you so much, Troy."

"I'll never doubt that again."

* * *

"_Earlier Today paparazzi surrounded Lakers superstar, Troy Bolton's home, as he returned from his impromptu vacation, with the mystery woman who has appeared to have stolen Eliza Whittfield's spot in his heart._

_Bolton and Whittfield were supposed to be getting married today, tying the knot after getting engaged just two months ago. But, a statement has been given from both parties clearly stating that the wedding is off. _

_No clue as to if this decision was based on this mystery woman, and still no word on what precious Juliana thinks of her daddy's new fling. However, Eliza has come forward in a mess of tears at her recent heartbreak, severely bashing that of Troy, stating that he knowingly cheated on her, and that they were in so much love and that she had no clue as to what happened._

_Reps have confirmed that Bolton and his mystery woman, plan to make a public statement themselves later today, regarding their circumstances and clearing any inquiry that the fans have about his social life. Until then, it seems fans are sticking tightly by his side, in support. And we will continue to dish out as much as we get, be sure to stay tuned to E-" _

"Turn that bullshit off, we're about to squash this shit anyways…"

Troy obeyed the firm but nonchalant command that came from his wife's ever so helpful best friend.

Clicking the television off, he continued his quest of readying himself to handle the problems that had been there to irritate him, and his family.

Because despite the conspiracies, and assumptions about his life, and what he did behind closed doors, the fact still remained that they were a family now. And he spoke on behalf of all his family, his friends included.

It was highly frustrating to be in a situation such as the predicament they were being subjected to, but he knew it was his responsibility to do so.

The fact still remained that though not all of this mess was caused by him, more than half was his fault, and he was working on ridding himself of that burden.

For his family, and also his fans. He owed them an explanation, and a truthful one at that. Something to calm their worries, to satisfy their inquiries and to reward their loyalty to him and his daughter.

It was time to reveal everything.

That was the reason for all this.

The Los Angeles Lakers were each individually giving press conferences, addressing their issues in athletics and also whatever issues were big with their publicity, and social, if they wanted.

This was the big something his lover and his manager had planned over the phone. A public addressing of the facts.

To get things straight.

So that brought him to where he was now. Tying his striped tie securely around his neck under his crisp white dress shirt, and all black suit.

He leaned into the mirror, and ran his hand through his unruly hair trying to figure a way to settle the messiness of it, but found that it just refused to lay once more, and he easily gave up on it.

"Daddy, I have a question!" Juliana yelled obviously excited about something, and he turned at the sound of her voice, just barely catching her as she launched herself into his arms.

"Whoa, slow down Puppy, what do you need?" Troy spoke with a laugh holding his little girl to his hip.

She smiled at him. "Ok, so…this dress that Aunt Sharpay picked out," She gestured to the flowery dress that she was donning and he surveyed it for her satisfaction.

"Yes?"

"Is it ok for the prep…thingy, like do I look enough pretty to go? Because last night, Mrs. Sherrie was talking about how important it was for everybody to look prettyful for it if they were gonna go." She spoke, animatedly, gesturing her hands in order to get her point across.

Troy smiled walking his daughter over to the mirror hanging on the wall.

"Well, just take a look yourself, Julie. I think you look absolutely beautiful, and that everyone is gonna love you, regardless. What do you think?"

Juliana smiled looking at herself and seeing her daddy smiling above her.

"I think I look fabulous!" She stated and Troy rolled his eyes at her choice of words, no doubt learned from the one and only Sharpay herself, who then decided to make her appearance into the living room, her hot pink jacket and black pencil skirt louder than anybody else's outfit.

"Exactly, there's never a need to worry, Juliana, when Aunt Sharpay dresses you, you'll always look perfect." The blonde spoke, and Julie jumped down from Troy's arms, to go over towards her.

"Now, you have a choice, though, would you like to leave you hair down or up?" She asked, bending down to meet the little girl's height.

"Um," She looked up as if to think hard about the decision at hand, and then diverted her eyes back towards her Aunt.

"How's Mommy wearing her hair to the prep thingy?" She questioned, bouncing on her toes.

"Press conference, Julie." Zeke corrected.

"Yeah, that." She said in agreement, before turning back to her Aunt.

"She wearing it down, cutie." Sharpay informed, raising up and going upstairs to put her earrings in her ears. Juliana smiled and Troy knew the dilemma had been taken care of.

"I don't give a fuck! You're gonna do whatever the hell you've got to do to make it happen, and that's an order, you hear me?" Sherrie herself roared into the phone receiver as she entered the home slamming the phone and door shut.

A smile crossed her features replacing the menacing glare that was just present, and Troy turned to greet her with a slight worry on his face.

"Oh god what happened now?" He asked, referring to her upset phone call. She looked him up and down surveying his outfit as if she had taken up a second job as his stylist before answering him.

"Oh, that was just my husband, talking shit about not having a babysitter," She said nonchalantly before giving a wave towards Sharpay and Zeke.

"But never mind that, you look dashing, I am quite proud of you for actually owning more than white t-shirts and ripped jeans." She stated, smiling appreciatively and he poked his tongue out.

"Real mature, hi Julie!" Sherrie said stepping over to the little girl and raising her up into her arms.

"Ms. Sherrie do you like my dress?" She asked, obviously wanting the same seal of approval her father had received.

"You look beautiful sweetheart, even more so than me, which is a big accomplishment." Sherrie said as if it was a vital fact to be informed of and Troy rolled his eyes, folding his collar securely over his tie in a crisp fashion.

"So, we know to handle this, right? We are going to stay calm and not make a scene in the best way we can and handle the questions in the best way we can, but they're only gonna ask so many."

Troy looked over at her, "Well, how do you know that?"

"Because I'm gonna stop that shit if it get's out of hand, duh!" She spoke, flipping her hair of her eyes in a fashionable manner.

"YO! What the fuck are we doing? I'm ready to slaughter this shit, now, let's go!" Chad's booming voice echoed into house, followed by a loud smack, as Taylor landed a blow to the back of his head.

"OW! What was that for?" He said, to his wife who was hobbling over to Sherrie to hug her.

"For your language! There are children in this room, fucking douche bag." She said, rolling her eyes at him, obviously in the irritable stage of her pregnancy.

"Alright on that note, we should be going, so where is Gabriella?" Zeke asked.

"You guys go on ahead with Julie, and I'll get Brie." He spoke, turning towards the bedroom.

"Five minutes Bolton!" Sherrie called out before slamming the door shut to the house.

He opened the door to his master bedroom to see no one there. He confusedly looked around, before spotting the light glaring in his bathroom doorway.

"Brie, you're always gonna be beautiful no matter what, but we've got to get going-" He cut himself off at the sound and sight of his lover tilted over into the toilet, in sickness.

"Gabriella?" He said, rushing over to kneel behind her body holding her curls back behind her as she continued to empty herself, which he assumed was what kept her from providing her presence to the living room.

She pulled back after a minute, in which Troy handed her a towel to wipe her mouth with, and she did, before leaning wearily back against him.

"Baby, if you're sick-"

"No, Troy…I'm going to the conference, it's probably just some…food I ate or something…it's nothing, just give a minute to brush my teeth, and I'll be ready to go." She stopped and decided to him, not giving him any say towards her decision.

He smiled at her courage and strength as she pulled herself towards her feet her heels clicking against the linoleum as she walked.

He stood as well, folding his arms across his chest as she brushed her teeth vigorously, obviously disgusted with the taste, but somehow still holding a twinkle to her eyes.

"You think it's just the food you ate?" He asked, raising an eyebrow towards her, questioning her well being once more, and she nodded to him, before spitting.

"Most likely. But whatever it is, it's gone now, and just in time for us to go and do what we have to do." Her words came and Troy still looked slightly worried as she flipped the lights off and prepared to get her stuff before turning back towards him, with an innocent smirk.

"It's nothing, I promise."

* * *

Troy glanced around at all the reporters eagerly questioning his best friend, who sat next to his pregnant wife proudly, and drama-free, enjoying the none too heavy questions the reporters were throwing at him.

He himself, was waiting on his love to return from the bathroom, where she had been the entire waiting process of the press conference.

And speaking of which had appeared in front of him with a much relieved smile on her face.

"What did I miss? Is it our time to go?" She asked, and Troy chuckled at her, as Chad and Taylor walked hand in hand from the table where they were sitting, rather than the podium Troy and Gabriella were preparing to stand in front of.

"It's all yours, hoops!" Chad claimed with a thumbs up in his direction. Troy smiled in gratefulness before, smiling softly at Gabriella, taking her hand securely in his, to cure her pending nervousness, that he could feel.

They walked into the room, comfortable smiles set on both of their faces and the reporters in a frenzy, shouted their eagerness.

Troy stood in front of his sharks, with Gabriella right beside him.

He motioned for them to settle down, obviously making the motion that he was about to speak in which they both snapped pictures and started recording.

"Since we are here to talk more about the season, and the team, and not my rocky personal life, I want to go ahead and clear everything up in that area," He said firmly, and Gabriella glanced at him.

"You all have heard the stories that have been conjured up. That I left my ex-fiancé, for an unknown woman, and you all have been wondering who this woman is, and what affect she has on me and the relationship between my daughter and I, and so forth." He went on, glancing at Juliana, before turning to cast adoring eyes at his lover.

"But I am here to offer both you guys and my fans an explanation, and an identity towards this woman." He said, his face breaking into a small smile.

"This woman, that I so called "cheated" on my ex-fiancé with, is standing next to me. Her name is Gabriella Montez, and she is the mother of my daughter." He said proudly, bringing her hand up to press his lips to and she mirrored his smile, turning towards the audience to give a short nod of agreement.

The press was losing their minds, snapping pictures and murmuring their mixed response, to the statement, but he wasn't finished.

"And the only cheating I have been doing is to myself and my family. Ripping them apart despite vast knowledge of who I was really in love with all along. I cheated Eliza out of a relationship, and for that I am sorry. But I made the mistake of losing Gabriella a long time ago, and I have made the choice not to ever do that again. I apologize for the stress of bad publicity I have caused the team, and to my fans. Please, I hope you understand that I have finally come to my senses, and will treat my decision with respect for the sake of my family." He finished with a smile.

It seemed as though the reporters and such were impressed and ready to turn their attention towards other matters before a clapping sound was heard in the distance.

Troy averted his eyes towards the holder of the noise to be met with the sight of one Eliza Whitfield.

"Well wasn't that sweet. A nice little speech to clear up all the fucking details of what happened, huh?" She stated, obviously in a vicious mood, her blonde hair framing her face.

Troy quickly cast his gaze to Gabriella who was visibly seething with rage, and he squeezed her hands soothingly, before staring at his ex.

"Eliza please don't embarrass yourself." He said, calmly as she placed her hands on her hips, and Troy took a quick look at his friends, watching as Sharpay was already being held restraint by Zeke, and Chad was looking quite scared with a fuming Taylor behind him.

"Mommy!"

His watched as Sherrie allowed his daughter to run towards her mother, who gently scooped her up into her arms.

"I have nothing to be fucking embarrassed about Troy! You fucking left me for that whore! For that bitch and that bastard child!" She roared, and he felt his own rage rear it's head but decided it was best to push it back down, she swallowed and Troy felt Gabriella tense up beside him at her negative words towards their daughter.

"And you honestly think you're gonna get away with it, by giving me some lame ass apology and a fucking speech about how you're not gonna deny your heart or some shit? Fuck you, Troy! And fuck this, because we all know that once you're done with you're little Mexican whore you'll leave like you always do, so keep the bullshit please. You've caused enough trouble." She said, her voice switching to once of false melancholy.

"I thought we were in love, I thought we were gonna spend the rest of our lives together, damn everything else…we made plans…"

"I can't spend the rest of my life with someone who disrespects my daughter in any way, she is my first priority, and you knew that, yet you did it anyway."

"Come on, Troy, let's not get into lies here, I never disrespected that little girl, we were well on our way to a healthy relationship-"

"YOU HIT MY DAUGHTER!" Gabriella roared stepping to the model, Juliana pushing her head into her neck, to avoid the sight of the woman.

It seemed silence had claimed the space and no one could move. No one wanted to question the rage visible on Gabriella Montez's face at the moment. She was furious and red, and she, for the wellness of her daughter, handed her to Troy.

She stalked over towards her more, a strength she never knew she had, providing her to do so.

"You injured my little girl, knowingly! And I will not let you sit here and criticize my family anymore!"

"I never touched that little bitch! I never did!" Eliza screamed in a fit of anger, obviously urged on by stress of the secret revealing itself.

"You can lie if you want to Eliza Whitfield, but no one is gonna believe you! Look at you…you've been knocked off of your high horse, and now you're acting like a immature little child! Jealous because I stole your candy…again. Just like in high school."

"Do you know that I can ruin the both of you? You fucking little liars!" She said stomping her foot, in rage.

"Try, Eliza…all your charm has run out, and you've been revealed…no one will tolerate your chain of ridiculous sob stories. You injured the four year old daughter, of Troy Bolton. And it can and will be proven if necessary."

"They'll never arrest me for it! It means nothing, no one cares about what happened to her, no one will ever believe you over me!"

"It won't be necessary to even have to because you've already claimed it," Gabriella stated lowly, fire in her eyes, as Eliza stepped closer to her.

"You'll never beat me, you'll never ruin me." she spoke lowly, as if menacingly.

"I don't have to, because you've succeeded in that yourself."

She raised her hand, landing a hit to Gabriella, who stumbled backwards from the force, but was redeemed by Sharpay who slammed the back of her hand dead into the model's jaw. Troy watched as his lover was lead by Sherrie and Taylor out of the chaos, and it was taking both Chad, Zeke, and Jason to remove Sharpay from Eliza's body.

Troy held his daughter to his chest as he exited as well, meeting up with his girlfriend, who was being checked by a grinning Sherrie.

"Gabs are you okay?" He asked giving Sherrie the advice to take Julie to the car and that they would meet her, before touching her face softly. She smiled at him.

"I'm fine, she didn't hit me that hard, I just stumbled a bit to add the affect…you know?" She said and he pressed his lips to her forehead, before watching as Zeke waltzed towards them, carrying a still kicking Sharpay over his shoulder, along with Chad who was grinning and trying to hold in laughter obviously.

"There are extensions everywhere," He stated, before combusting in a fit of laughter, at the prospect, causing Gabriella to chuckle.

"The bitch was lucky, I didn't take her whole head of hair out!" Sharpay said, as Zeke turned his back to them so that they could hear her talk.

"Meanwhile, we're quite proud of Gabriella who decided to take one for the team today, and not lose her cool." Taylor said.

"It was harder than it looked, but, I mean why not, hell...she's already got an assault charge coming for Julie." She said, with a smirk.

"Alright, well I know I speak for all when I say that I need some food!" Chad said, rubbing his stomach, and Sharpay grinned still over Zeke's shoulder.

"Actually I still think you speak for just yourself, but I agree, let's get out of here, Zeke, lead the way, why don't you?"

He complied to her request, everyone else following behind them, except for Troy and Gabriella, themselves.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her body towards his. "You could've hit her back, Brie…it wouldn't have bothered me." He stated, and she smiled up at him.

"I could have," She said thoughtfully, before biting her lip, and locking an intense gaze with him.

"But I just couldn't resist adding assault of a pregnant woman to her charge list." She said with a smile. The blue orbs expanded at the calm statement, and he felt his heart swell in his chest at the information.

"Excuse me?"

"We're having another baby, Wildcat." She said softly, the silence between them giving her just a little bit of a scare.

"I know this probably wasn't the right time to tell you but-"

"Are you kidding me? This is fantastic, this is…holy fuck, Brie we're having a baby!" He said loudly, picking her up and spinning her around in his arms. She laughed, at his reaction, wrapping her legs around his waist before he pressed his lips to hers in a passionate embrace, the moment really rivaling that of the past.

He pulled away to set her on her feet, and cup her face.

"And I promise to do it right this time."

She wasn't worried about that fact, she knew he was gonna keep that promise this time, around.

**A/N: Haha, I know it's a bit of a cliché, but just thought I should do it. I mean come on, I'm not the only one wanting another! Lol. Review please, and I'll dish out maybe two more chaps. And I'm sorry for the wait!**

**-Mimi**


	17. World of Chances

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: First off let me just say that I loved you guy's response towards the last chapter. **

**It was wonderful how everyone reacted to the news of the new baby. I basically knew that those two couldn't have had all that sex without slipping up at least once, if you catch my drift, lol.**

**So now here's where I inform you guys that this is the second to last chapter of this story.**

**Tear.**

**There's not much for me to say because it's not fully over yet, we've got some last minute details to take care of, in this chapter before we can sign off, you know. **

**Enjoy!**

**BTW: This chapter is named after the song written by Demi Lovato and John Mayer called, "World of Chances", it just seemed to fit for some reason. **

**Disclaimer: Um, if that were true It would have been on HBO maybe, not Disney.**

Chapter 17

The day after Gabriella had announced her pregnancy to her lover, he bought a house.

They had been almost finished with building it when he signed the papers, and she watched as her lover designed their new home the exact way they wanted it.

Now two months later she sat on her plush brown sofa allowing herself to be surrounded by the loud lime green walls, while she basked in her tiredness.

Or what was supposed to be her tiredness.

She scowled at Troy's paranoia of her hurting herself or the new baby, whenever she tried to take something out and put it up or help with anything.

A whole day of moving and she had not been allowed to touch, lift, move, or shift one single item.

She wouldn't complain though, there was way too much room in this house.

Six bedrooms, six and half bathrooms, a humongous kitchen big enough to feed a small army, a wine cellar, a den, her own personal painting room, two offices, and a large front yard and back yard, complete with a pool.

The house was giant sized, way bigger than her last home but apparently smaller than Troy's.

She didn't see any difference.

It was huge.

And after moving all the things in last week, the hard work of her and her very strong and excited friends allowed her new home to be finished.

Sharpay had designed the colors of every room, which explained the bright tone of the living room, which Troy had insisted be more relaxed with the brown added to it. He then insisted that he supervised the decoration of every room.

She had been filled with laughter at the sight of the two working together with various arguments on how to bring the different rooms together, with little suggestions from the always opinionated Sherrie.

They were rushing to finish by today for the simple fact that Juliana's fifth birthday was the next day, and they planned a big surprise party for her.

It would be the setting for the real announcement of Gabriella's pregnancy.

They hadn't told their little girl, or their parents of the new member of their family and they felt the best way was to just reveal both at one time.

Gabriella had not been showing that much, only a slight bump appearing seen every now and then, but not enough to start inquiry.

It was quite surreal.

In mere months time, she would be a mother to the second child of Troy Bolton.

She was dying in hope that it was a boy. She wanted a boy that was identical to the man that she had loved all her life. She wanted him to be a handsome brown haired blued eyed baby boy with the boyish charm and sense she had fallen in love with.

But if she was blessed with another girl she'd be happy.

Something in her gut told her that Troy wanted another girl, and that made her giggle with unknown laughter.

Apparently he found it way more satisfying with two girls in the basketball fantasy than a girl and a boy.

But either way everyone in the family was fairly certain that both children would be more than severely athletic in their lives, with the smarts of their intelligent mother.

She would finally get her family.

"I wish I could read your mind." A voice broke through her thoughts, and Gabriella turned to face the shirtless from of the precise lover she had been thinking about mere minutes ago.

She smiled up at him and swiftly scooted over so that he could rest his form next to her.

"Why is that?" She inquired, moving her form to snuggle against his chest, and he wrapped his arm around her.

"Because I would love to know the reason for that smile that had just taken over your face." He said and she grinned at his words.

"Oh, it wasn't anything special, just a certain man in my life, you know?" She spoke, shrugging her shoulders indifferently. He ran his hands up and down her arms soothingly.

"Really? That guy must be pretty great to put a look like that on your face…" he spoke and she nodded against him.

"He is, but I think he'd flip if he found out that we were seeing each other, he's a jealous one." She said with a smile and he pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I could take him…" He said thoughtfully, and she smiled, chuckling softly.

"How do you feel?" He asked, obviously in a small sense of worry. It made her roll her eyes but didn't take the grin off of her face.

"I'm fine, you barely let me do anything today." She said, a hint of scorn in her voice, and he buried his nose into her curls, inhaling the scent of her strawberry shampoo.

"I know, but it's just apart of my fatherly concerns for our child, I don't want anything to be wrong with our little one."

She shook her head, and made her way to pull herself from the couch, only to find herself turned around and sitting in his lap, legs on either side of his pelvis.

"And where the hell do you think you're going?" He spoke, and she felt his hands make home on the small of her back, fingers rubbing slight circles on her bone.

"I was going to rest, apparently I have overexerted myself today, by sitting on my ass…" She spoke, sarcasm filling her tone.

He raised an eyebrow at her antics, and crushed his lips to hers, igniting a deep kiss that sent her entire body into a fit of waves and resulted in his hands making way to her backside to squeeze pulling her against his very active lower regions.

She moaned into his mouth, as his lips traveled from hers to make a line down her neck, that particular right side bringing a fairly wanton reaction out of her.

"Troy…" She moaned, her hands flailing to wrap around his neck. He bit harshly on her neck, in response.

"You have yet to, uh…overexert yourself." He said huskily, licking the shell of her ear causing her to voice her approval of such, and begin a desperate rocking motion against his groin.

He found his inner animal rage with excitement and his hands found their way to the neck of her shirt, where he tugged it harshly off of her body.

Buttons scattering everywhere, she tilted her head back, as she found her bra covered chest exposed to his enjoyment, the lace tickling her skin along with the tip of his tongue as he pressed his mouth to the tanned breast, moving it over the skin with a practiced fashion.

She tangled her fingers in his mop of brown hair, pulling and fondling the locks with passionate ease, her undergarments suddenly becoming uncomfortable and blocking in a way.

"I figured since you were so damn upset about not being able to help move, I'd volunteer your energy for use…elsewhere." He spoke against her skin, hot breath fanning over the expected marks that he was expertly making as he spoke.

She replied in an incoherent sense, actual understandable words being too far away from her actual brain capacity at the moment.

His fingers moved up her body, unclasping her bra and she all to eagerly allowed him the space to remove it fully, displaying her breasts to him.

Troy locked his gaze exactly to hers, and they stared for a moment, talking to each other, a way of communicating that they had familiarized themselves to.

"Kiss me…please."

And he happily obliged.

His captured her lips in a kiss, her hands resting atop of his shoulders now, the bareness of his skin pressing against her equally bare top.

"Fuck…Brie," He groaned, and she raked her hands down his back, causing a shudder to erupt throughout his body and effect her as well.

She moved her tiny hands towards the elastic of his sweatpants with a pace unknown to them both, but was obviously so fueled by the urgency that had the both of them panting in heated desperation.

His lips fused against hers almost rhythmically, hard and pressing, letting her breath only to start on a specific spot on the right side of her neck.

"Oh, god…" A voice that Troy had never heard of emptied from his lover, and though it was foreign it traveled straight towards his groin, only making those very baggy sweatpants become very overbearing.

He rocked up into her and she lifted herself to slide the pants down his legs quickly along with his undergarments, her own jean shorts already not so mysteriously unbuttoned.

"That's not my name, baby," He spoke, and she grinned, opening her eyes with a flustered look to gaze at him.

He took the momentary pause to rip her shorts from her body, finding a surprise in the fact that there was nothing under the jean.

"You're such a naughty little slut." He muttered with a grin, slapping her now bare ass, and she giggled.

"Just fuck me already, Troy."

"With pleasure."

She sank down on his member with a sliding ease, impaling pleasure onto his groin, the sensation causing the both of them to cry out simultaneously in erotic release.

She braced her arms around his neck, the motion of rocking already set in a quick pace, back and forth across his shaft, her head thrown back with every inch of movement that he contributed.

"Fuck Gabi, you feel so good…" She moaned in agreement, throwing a hand behind her to steady herself, while he gripped her hips tightly, yanking her up almost completely out of her body, before slamming her down harshly, causing her to scream out loud, and speeding her rocking motions up just an inch.

She was giving herself up completely to him, giving him the right to take control over her, which he took with pride.

"Jesus, Troy…oh my god." She was panting, not even putting in much work but still out of breath to an extent, and Troy leaned in, biting on her ear.

"You love the thought of this don't you?…being controlled by me, not having a say but just having to be fucked senselessly," He said lowly and she whimpered but obviously he was not going to be satisfied that easily.

"Answer me, Gabi." He said through gritted teeth and he slowed her speed, making her whine loudly in disagreement.

"Oh…shit…" She spoke, her hand clinching his thigh, but he didn't move or flinch. He stared into her eyes.

"That was not an answer, Gabriella." He spoke.

And he came to a complete stop.

And she lost it.

She slapped his chest hard, panting left from the feeling of his rock hard cock buried up into her.

"Say it Brie, and I'll keep going…" He said unmoving even from her display of blatant anger at his decision of no motion.

"Oh, fuck you Troy! I'm so close…" She moaned bringing another angsty punch towards his chest, in which he grinned quite proudly at.

"I know baby…all you have to do is say the words…tell me how you like it when I own you like this. When I show my possessive side, when I tell you that no one will ever have this power over you except me, because you know that no one will." He growled and she bit her lip, trying to move, trying to be difficult in turn to his punishing ways.

But it was no use, no friction was allowed, no pleasure was allotted as long as he had his fingers attached to her hips in the tight way that he did, almost certainly bruising her sides.

"Yes Troy, please…fuck me…please…" She was reduced to begging in sobs, desperation obviously the fire between the two, and he pushed up into her with force that caused her to scream so loudly he was sure the new neighbors would hear.

"That's my girl…so wet and fucking tight…" He muttered into her neck biting harshly, and giving her ass a smack, that echoed around the living room.

She moaned loudly throwing her head back, the long strands of hair tickling his thighs as he stroked her wetness with his member at a speed quicker than lighting but as deep as the ocean.

It was a dance that would never get old, it would never tire them out.

Her fingers pressed into the shoulder blades of his body making his growl of pleasure even more passionate and giving him the initiative to increase his speed of thrusting even more, to the point where she was bouncing atop of his length with ease her breasts jumping along with her movements.

"Oh…shit, Troy!" She breathed and he groaned along with her, his release as close as hers but even more prominent.

"I love you Brie…" He whispered to her, pressing a kiss towards her ear, causing her to shut her eyes and open her mouth in a silent scream as the white blinded her vision and the erratic shakes took over her entire body.

She was a vision.

The tan of her skin with a slight red flush to it, as she rode out the oceanic waves of her undoing. His whispered confession echoing in her ears poetically, causing a very hard orgasm to hit her, buried in a stack of her love for him.

He groaned at the sight of her unraveling and with a few animalistic grunts he found himself right by her side, emptying himself into her with a familiar belonging, a distant thought wondering how he went so long without her.

Without this.

She fell backwards onto the couch, bringing him with her, he himself unfolding his legs so that the two could comfortably lay, his head resting on her chest, with salty sweat combining with the two.

His fingers tangibly traced the outline of her tiny but present bump that was growing with each passing day.

"I just want to make it right for you, Julie, and the baby…" He spoke, and Gabriella smiled down at him, though he didn't look up to see.

"You have Troy, we all love you, and we will forever." She said with a vigorous truth that he couldn't help but believe.

"I guess we should get up, I don't think Juliana would appreciate seeing us like this as her birthday present tomorrow." He spoke with a laugh, sitting up to look at his lover whom laughed down at him before pressing a kiss to his lips.

* * *

"_Happy Birthday to Juliana, Happy Birthday to you!" _

The crowded backyard at the Bolton house cheered after their very off key and loud rendition of the birthday song to Julie.

Friends and family, including both Troy's parents and Gabriella's mother were standing around the little girl as she blew out her candles and prepared to stick her hand straight into the cake.

"Wait! Julie don't you want to open your gifts?" Gabriella said, smiling brightly as the little girl's face lit up at the possibility.

Troy removed a box from behind his back that was wrapped securely and sat it in sight of her, in which she destroyed it promptly.

The box was ripped in a mere seconds and the little girl unfolded a shirt from the box that had a message on the front.

It read, "World's Greatest Big Sister".

Furrowed eyebrows and a crinkled nose followed the reading, "Sister? But I don't have any little brothers or sisters."

Gabriella smiled, "Not yet, but you will in about six to seven months."

The eyes on her face went as wide as saucers at her mother's revelation and she looked up to her daddy who nodded his head.

"Mommy's gonna have another baby."

She launched herself straight into his arms in which she hugged him, chanting her thanks and telling him how much she wanted another little brother or sister.

"Thank you! This is what I wished for! Oh this is gonna be so cool!" She said excitedly and Gabriella turned to meet her crying mother, and Troy's equally excited and emotional parents.

"Yes Mama, I'm giving you another grandchild." She said and the woman pulled her into a hug that was full of love and joy at the information.

She then was released to meet Lucille and Jack Bolton who both hugged her, with happiness and slight relief that obviously it was her and not someone else.

Applause and cheering were being supplied as the background music for this specific and special occasion, the friends that did not know now in tune with the happy news.

It was obviously the best birthday gift Juliana could have received, and she was elated by her parent's choice.

Juliana dropped her father's grasp to address her mother, whom picked her up with ease.

"Mommy?"

"Yes Julie?"

"If you and Daddy are going to have a baby then don't you think you should have his last name…you know, um….marriage?" She said with shining eyes and Gabriella looked at her daughter with a longing to her words.

It was obvious how much Gabriella wanted to be married to the father of her child. They had come this far by faith, and she just knew that they were ready. But the fact remained that they had not talked about it, she didn't have the time to, and she wasn't going to push Troy to buy another ring and have a repeat proposal, since his first was a literal disaster.

She locked eyes with her lover whom was showing off the recent ultra sound to some of their friends, with an excitement she hadn't seen in a long time.

"You just may be right, Juliana."

* * *

An hour or so later after the backyard bash had been long over and cleaned, Troy and Gabriella decided a quiet tour of their home to their parents would be welcoming.

"Come on Julie say goodnight to Grandma, Grandpa, and Abuela." Troy spoke, guiding her from the bathroom.

"Goodnight, grandparents!" She said, jumping up to hug each of the three separately.

Gabriella stood in the frame, with a knowing smile on her face. "Um, you guys, the whole house is done, but we're still working on the baby room, since we haven't gotten a chance to find out the sex yet."

The grandparents turned their attentions from their precious grandchild to look at the woman.

"Have you thought of baby neutral colors, then?" Troy's mother inquired and Gabriella nodded, leading them up the long stairway, pictures of everyone adorning the walls, there.

"I like green, your son says that's gay, I like yellow, once again he said it was gay, so we settled for an orange or brown." She spoke, and Lucille laughed wholeheartedly.

Jack looked at his son whom had now joined the group. "Son, why didn't you just go with green?"

"Dad come on…that's so gay, and what if we have a boy, really?" He spoke with a straight faced nonchalance, that caused Gabriella to punch his arm, and roll her eyes.

They entered the master bedroom, where the two of them commented on the picking of their color scheme, Gold and white.

"Ay Dios Mio, this is beautiful, mija." Carmen spoke, true awe to her statement.

The ceiling was high, and the room was huge. The walls had been left white, with gold outlining the quiet color, the room was fit for royalty with the white silk sheets and the gold comforter, adorning it.

The window space was huge, taking up most of the wall adjacent to the bed, a perfect view of the city of Los Angeles provided when the sheer white and gold curtains were open.

There were bouquets of white and gold lilies sitting on almost every surface, to satisfy Gabriella's love for flowers, and their was a different door that lead their joint closet.

And of course you could walk in and sit and have a conversation and more.

"Son, this is a whole lot for a closet." Jack spoke, glancing around at the suits in order and color coded, from darkest to lightest, and all his daily white clean shirts crisply folded and stacked.

"Well this whole thing was Sherrie and Sharpay's doing. They knew that Troy was terribly unorganized when it came to his clothes, and then I have so many shoes…"

She shared a smile with her lover at that revelation.

"Oh my, you weren't lying Ella," Lucille spoke, scanning her eyes over all the boxes of designer shoes that adorned her sons girlfriend's space of the closet.

"But anyways, that's our bedroom." Troy spoke, leading them all out of the bedroom where then on they showed the three guest bedrooms, took them down into the wine cellar, both of the offices, the den and of course Gabriella's special room.

Finally they stood at the door of the new baby's room, and Gabriella stood at the front preparing herself to open.

"Okay you guys, now I told you that we haven't done a whole lot because of the unknown sex but we've done the best we-"

But when she opened the door, she contradicted her own words.

The room was painted a deep orange, almost a red, and the crib was set up along the wall tan colored to match that of the dresser, and comforter set that made home inside of it.

There was a shelf of books, that rested with a bouquet of orange daises, alive and fresh, brightening up the dim lighting that was provided because of the nighttime.

Gabriella covered her mouth with her hands, stepping into the room slowly, letting her eyes scan over the carpet that was tan and orange with the design of teddy bears and toys on it. She turned her attention towards the open closet door that already held a great deal of baby clothes.

Finally, she turned and allowed her eyes to trail over the toy chest that sat at the foot of the crib across from the rocking chair, and the toys surrounding it.

There were different toys lining it up, cars, a toy fire truck, a rattle, and a specifically arranged set of letter blocks, that lined up to spell out the message:

'Marry me?'

Gabriella turned to face an already kneeling Troy, who was brandishing a ring in his bare hands, big and sparkling, glaring off of the light in the room.

"There isn't anything I could possibly say to persuade you more than, I love you, I need you in my life, more than just lovers, and while Montez is wonderful…I think Julie's ready for her and you to have my last name." He said with a nervous smile, and he held out the ring for her to take.

"Please…please, will you marry me?" He spoke, and she smirked at his stance, it seemed a few months ago the path was unclear to whether she would ever have a chance to answer this question, and now here she was, having to.

"We did this kind of backwards, didn't we?" She spoke, with a chuckle, and he nodded with a grin.

"Fine. I'll marry you…" She said with a smile, and he lifted her off of her feet after sliding the ring down her finger swiftly.

Gabriella didn't think her happiness could be this grand, this powerful. And while he spun her around the room the approval of their watching parents echoing in their ears, Gabriella had a chance to stare at the arrangement of yet another set of letters on the wall, they were tan, wooden, and spelled out,

Joshua.

She looked at her fiancé who grinned at her, kissing her soundly before whispering to her excited ears.

"It's a boy."

She pressed her lips to those of her fiancé's once more, drowning every detail of that around her, the feelings overpowering her body those of a happiness she thought would never be apart of her lifestyle.

It was a scene she thought would never be one of her own.

A wish that was wept with no hope, in tail with a dream that was dreamt with a broken heart.

It was something that left a door open, full of way for chances.

Maybe, if they were lucky, a world of chances.

**A/N: Aw, I'm getting a little teary eyed. These two really have come far, haven't they? Well, folks, one last chapter to go. I hope you enjoyed this one though. **

**REVIEW! **

**-Mimi**


	18. Reflections

_Can't Help Myself_

**A/N: Oh my god you guys…this is it. **

**It's the long awaited final chapter of Can't Help Myself, it's not much just something that wraps up everything. I must say thank you to all my readers and everyone in general who has put up with my shit. It's been a long time coming and I hope that you guys had just as much, fun reading as I had writing and developing the story. **

**Even if your having a sad time letting go of Troy and Gabriella in this story, you know there's nothing stopping you from checking out my new fiction coming up entitled, "Beautiful Nightmare". It's really different from this one, something I've been meaning to write for a very long time. **

**So, here's to fun times, and sad endings. I think I'm going to cry. : )**

**BTW: This chapter is based on Mariah Carey's song, "Reflections" From the movie, Glitter. Although the song mentioned in the beginning is called "That's How Strong My Love Is" by Alicia Keys from her new album _The_ _Element Of Freedom, _which is a really great CD. **

**Disclaimer: Um, if that were true It would have been on HBO maybe, not Disney.**

Chapter 18

A mere one hundred guests were gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the not so big catholic church, watching the prequel to the long awaited wedding ceremony commence.

_Through the shake of an earthquake, I would never fall._

The bridesmaids decked out in red dresses, trailed gracefully one by one, down the isle on the left side of the sanctuary, while their groomsmen matched them on the right, meeting in the middle.

_That's how strong my love is…_

The song was fitting, it was perfection for the occasion.

The bond that was about to be joined, the connection that should have been linked a long time ago, was brought together by the strength of love, and had overcome many trials because of the strength of the same love, and now would commence peacefully because of that love.

The dimmed lights casted an intimate light on the room, as Juliana, finished dropping her red roses, at the alter, and took her seat just as her mother made her way down the isle, escorted by her fiancé's father.

_They can shift through the storm, we can risk it all, _

Troy watched his fiancé, glide towards him, her white dress flowing almost poetically with every step she took, her red roses clutched in her grasp, her eyes focused solely on him, on their future.

Nothing else mattered.

Nothing else would ever matter.

Stepping up to him, having his hand enclose around hers, in that moment, taking her grasp with a firm hold, looking at his own father with a smile that read of thank you, he smiled back down at his woman, a tear sliding down her tanned face, features those of which happy, and victorious.

Their love prevailed, and would continue to do so.

_That's how strong my love is._

* * *

Being really, really pregnant, sucked.

The last two months Gabriella wanted to be tested for bi-polar disease more than twelve times.

She still continued to ask her husband to take her to the psychiatric ward and have them run a couple of tests of insanity on her.

After the fifth time that she made him go get her a cheeseburger at three in the morning, and then cried about how she was so fat after she polished it off in a mere three minutes, he almost agreed.

Not to mention the time she got so mad she hoisted a vase through the air at him, and he ducked too late and was knocked unconscious for about ten minutes, which scared her and plummeted her into the hospital for a high blood pressure.

She had cried that night as well, stating that he should leave her all alone since she attempted to kill him.

He digressed, and kissed her, "It's not the first time, honey, I highly doubt it will be the last, we would have never gotten married if it weren't for you attempting to kill me."

"You really mean it?" She had said looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

* * *

After the vase/blood pressure accident, Troy decided that they needed to take a trip to calm Gabriella's nerves, and to her, he suggested New York.

She threw an absolute hissy fit.

"What the fuck is relaxing about fucking New York, Troy? That's right, absolutely nothing! There are horrible people, the entire city is dirty, it's loud and boisterous, and there are homeless people everywhere! How in your right mind could you believe that it's a safe environment for your pregnant wife? Are you a moron…"

And it didn't stop there, she continued her rant, but that didn't exactly mean that he was listening to it.

He walked around their bedroom, while she yelled and followed him, and was packing their stuff in suitcases as nonchalant as he could have possibly been.

"…So I am not going to that horrid place, w-what are you doing?"

"Packing your stuff, I've already called Sharpay, we're leaving tomorrow morning." He spoke, folding his arms over his chest.

She stared at him as if he just informed her that her dog had gotten hit by a truck.

"But I do NOT want to go!"

"It's already paid for."

"Well cancel it!"

"Can't."

"Find a different fucking trip!"

"No. You're always bitching about how you don't want me wasting money, so I'm not. Deal with it."

"I fucking hate you!"

"I'll live."

She then proceeded to lock herself in their closet.

That is until he bought her a cheeseburger as a truce. He spent the next hour making it up to her, on their closet floor.

In more ways than one.

* * *

After eight and a half months of bitching, throwing shit, and eating cheeseburgers, it was only fitting that Gabriella's water broke while everyone was gathered in their living room watching her favorite show, that she had been obsessed with getting everyone to watch, Glee.

It happened in the mist of the finale, while one of the characters was singing their rendition of Barbara Streisand's "Don't Rain On My Parade".

She had been watching excitedly, this character particularly her favorite, and commenting on how she was executing the song perfectly with Sharpay.

_Hey, Mr. Arnstein, Here I Am….!_

Ironically.

She gasped as soon as that line ended, and her pants were soaked immediately.

From that point people were rushing, running into each other to all get Gabriella to the hospital as soon as possible.

Troy was helping her into the car despite her constant complaining on how she wouldn't see how the show ended, in which he responded that he would buy her the DVD. Juliana, hopped in the backseat with her mother and father, toting the overnight bag, with her and they sped off leading the funeral procession of cars out of the Bolton household.

It was like a car chase, no one was allowed to get left behind and no one did.

Gabriella was having contractions in the front seat, which lead her to scream hysterically, and try to breathe to slow them down.

Sharpay was on the phone, which was on speaker instructing Gabriella on the right ways to breathe, pissing Troy off because he felt like he should be the one instructing anything.

When he made the mistake of voicing that opinion, all the girls snapped on him, including his own daughter who told him to shut up and watch the road.

* * *

Fourteen tiring hours later, Joshua Alejandro Bolton was welcomed into the family, and Gabriella was feeling exhausted, her hair sticking to her forehead glued from her impending sweat, and her eyes pouring tears out. Her cheeks were red from the extreme amount of force that was exerted and her hand was still clutching her husbands when the doctor handed her their son.

Troy looked down at his newborn baby and his wife, something striking inside of him, and he pressed a kiss to both of their foreheads.

"I love you guys, you know?"

"I love you too, honey…this really was worth missing the finale of Glee." She said as she stared at her son who smiled up at his mother with stormy blue eyes identical to his father, unsurprisingly.

Troy laughed, as Joshua reached for his finger, holding on to his father a little as his mother cradled him.

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, a passion not far unknown to both tingling on both of their lips as he did so.

If he was to relay this story to anyone, or his son, or daughter, later on in life, the question that would always come up: Why didn't you just leave it alone? Why didn't you just accept things the way they were, begrudgingly, and just live with what you had? Why go through all of that, to get what he wanted?

And with a very cheeky grin he would always tell his son, or his daughter, or whomever dared to question the fate of his life, and his family, and he would take it to his grave, that while, leaving everything the way it would have been could have been a good choice…

He just couldn't help himself.

**A/N: See you next time!**

**-Mimi**


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